Liebesgeschichten und Heiratssachen

(Love Affairs and Wedding Bells) by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy.

   Premiered 1843. Nestroy plots the course of three love affairs in this comedy, each of which must overcome the hurdles of class distinctions and prejudice—though from the standpoint of a preposterous arriviste butcher named Fett (German for "fat"). A marquis falls in love with Fett's niece, but Fett turns him down. Meanwhile Fett's daughter Fanny has fallen in love with a man named Bucher; his business fortunes having recently declined, Fett attempts to call off the marriage plans he once approved between the two. Into the mix comes Fett's sister-in-law, whose suitor is an impecunious valet passing himself off as a count. In a hilarious sequence of mistaken identities, chance encounters, and overheard conversations, the marquis is allowed to marry the niece, Fanny Fett marries Bucher, and the valet is exposed as an impostor.