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Intrigue and Love

Intrigue and Love, sometimes Love and Intrigue, Love and Politics, or Luise Miller (German: Kabale und Liebe, pronounced [kaˈbaːlə ʔʊnt ˈliːbə] ; literally "Cabal and Love") is a five-act play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schiller. His third play, it was first performed on 13 April 1784 at Schauspiel Frankfurt. The play shows how cabals and their intrigue destroy the love between Ferdinand von Walter, a nobleman's son, and Luise Miller, daughter of a middle-class musician.

Kabale und Liebe
Intrigue and Love

13 April 1784

Schauspiel Frankfurt

German

Bourgeois tragedy

President von Walter, at a German prince's court

Ferdinand, the president's son, an army major

Hofmarschall von Kalb

Lady (Emilie) Milford, favourite of the prince

Wurm, the president's private secretary

Miller, town musician or "Kunstpfeifer"

Miller's wife

Luise, Miller's daughter

Sophie, maid to Lady Milford

A valet to the prince

Various minor characters

Plot[edit]

Ferdinand is an army major and son of President von Walter, a high-ranking noble in a German duke's court, while Luise Miller is the daughter of a middle-class musician. The couple fall in love with each other, but both their fathers tell them to end their affair. The president instead wants to expand his own influence by marrying off his son Ferdinand to Lady Milford, the duke's mistress. However, Ferdinand rebels against his father's plan and tries to persuade Luise to elope with him. The president and his secretary Wurm (Ferdinand's rival) concoct an insidious plot, arresting Luise's parents for no reason. Luise declares, in a love letter to the Hofmarschall von Kalb, that only by death can she obtain her parents' release. Luise is also forced to swear an oath to God to state she wrote this letter (actually forced on her) of her own free will. This letter is leaked to Ferdinand and deliberately evokes jealousy and vengeful despair in him.


Luise tries to get released from her oath by suicide, dying before Ferdinand and restoring their love's innocence, but her father puts a stop to this by putting massive moral and religious pressure on the couple. This means she has only silence and the lie required by the oath to counter the charges against her. Luise is released from her secrecy by death, revealing the intrigue to Ferdinand and forgiving him, and Ferdinand reaches out his hand to his father at the moment of his death, which the President interprets as his son's forgiveness.


In a subplot, Lady Milford is shown in a position between the middle and upper classes, in love with Ferdinand. She is confronted with Luise's pure and simple love for Ferdinand. Despite Lady Milford's love for him, they are intent on marriage and withdrawing from the world of the court.

The extravagance at the ducal court – Although Württemberg was a relatively poor country at the time of Schiller, Charles Eugene lived his life along the lines of the French royal court at the , financing expensive balls, hunts and festivals by exploiting his people and selling his population as mercenaries.

Palace of Versailles

Trade in soldiers – In Schiller's time one of Charles Eugene's ways of raising money was to 'sell off' farmers', craftsmen's and labourers' sons to serve abroad as mercenaries, such as in the , sometimes by violence, drugging or abduction.

American Revolutionary War

Mistresses – For a long time Charles Eugene ran a system of mistresses, including (later the Duke's official partner and wife, and the basis for the character Lady Milford, especially in her influence on the duke).

Franziska von Leutrum

Intrigues – In Schiller's time the acting minister of the Württemberg court, count Samuel Monmartin, had brought about the downfall of his rivals via forged letters and gained the exclusive confidence of the Prince.

Despotism – How justified Schiller's critique of the duke's rule was can be seen in the treatment of the journalist and poet , who took offence at the appalling conditions in the duchy and was imprisoned without the verdict of a court.

Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart

Adaptations[edit]

Translations[edit]

The first English translation was released in 1795, and a French version followed in 1799. Modern English translations include Love and Politics by Christopher Webber (London, Riverside Studios, 1989), Intrigue/Love by Daniel Millar and Mark Leipacher (London, Southwark Playhouse, 2010) and Luise Miller by Mike Poulton (London, Donmar Warehouse, 8 June to 30 July 2011[1])

Opera[edit]

Giuseppe Verdi's opera based on the play was entitled Luisa Miller. The librettist was Salvadore Cammarano, and the premiere took place in Naples on 8 December 1849.[2][3] Another opera, Gottfried von Einem's Opus 44, used Schiller's original title Kabale und Liebe was set to a libretto by Boris Blacher and Lotte Ingrisch and premiered on 17 December 1976.[4]

(editor): Kindlers Neues Literatur Lexikon, Studienausgabe Band 14 Re–Sc. Kindler Verlag, München (in German)

Jens, Walter

Kiermeier-Debre, Joseph (ed.): Friedrich Schiller – Kabale und Liebe. Original text with appendix on author, work and form, incl. timeline and glossary, in the series Bibliothek der Erstausgaben, 4. edition 2007, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München.  978-3-423-02622-2 (in German)

ISBN

Mitter, Manfred: Friedrich Schiller – Kabale und Liebe, Interpretationsimpulse. Merkur Verlag, Rinteln,  978-3-8120-0850-1 (print form), ISBN 978-3-8120-2850-9 (CD-ROM) (in German)

ISBN

Beate Nordmann: Erläuterungen zu Friedrich Schiller, Kabale und Liebe. Bange, Hollfeld 2003.  3-8044-1747-7 (in German)

ISBN

Friedrich Schiller, Love and Intrigue. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2019, :10.11647/OBP.0175

doi

Hans-Erich Struck: Friedrich Schiller – Kabale und Liebe. 2nd revised edition 1998, Oldenbourg Schulbuchverlag, München 1998.  3-486-88643-6 (in German)

ISBN

at Project Gutenberg (in German)

Kabale und Liebe

at the Internet Movie Database

TV and film adaptations

public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Love and Intrigue