In 1787, Friedrich Schiller published his story about a prince who manipulates, seduces, and ultimately falls victim to a murderous intrigue in Rococo Venice. The prince, an enlightened ruler with a penchant for worldly things, travels to the funeral of his brother, a sometimes mentally confused, generally incompetent, alcohol-addicted good-for-nothing who died in a brawl. Having come to fulfill a tedious duty, the prince falls in love with a mysterious beauty against a romantic backdrop of dreamy gondolas, castles, and masks, and she drives him mad. He, who is usually guided by incorruptible judgment, becomes increasingly entangled in the finely woven web of his invisible enemies from the nobility and clergy. For, despite all reason, it is a matter of succession to the throne and thus of power.