"Herr Oberst" only appears this one time in direct response to Fritz switching from "du" to "Herr Leutnant" in order to get Katte to desert the army by citing his higher rank... in the army, which is an interesting approach (direct quote following this exchange: "Ich befehle, als Vorgesetzter!"). Usually it's "du" from both of them in act 1 and Fritz in act 5 with one "königliche Hoheit" used when talking about the whole marriage thing and one "mein Prinz" in act 5.
I did recognize FW's whole "love me"-thing (he says it to Fritz himself too during the whole "will Wilhelmine become a nun" conversation that I did not write much about), I just thought the mental image of him telling Katte of all people was a bit strange. So far, Burte has not really managed to back up the claim that FW is actually the sweetest person (deep deep inside) beyond Katte telling the audience/Wilhelmine that he is, so it feels a little unwarranted from a "theatrical" point of view...? Especially because Burte usually loves exposition dumping. FW gets more stage time in acts 3 and 4 and I did not read everything too closely on my first read through, so I might find something yet.
Now I regret not having read Don Carlos, that might have been interesting for comparison :'D I'll have to look for a Katte play closer to Faust or Die Räuber
Re: Katte - A Tragicomedy (the first half)
"Herr Oberst" only appears this one time in direct response to Fritz switching from "du" to "Herr Leutnant" in order to get Katte to desert the army by citing his higher rank... in the army, which is an interesting approach (direct quote following this exchange: "Ich befehle, als Vorgesetzter!"). Usually it's "du" from both of them in act 1 and Fritz in act 5 with one "königliche Hoheit" used when talking about the whole marriage thing and one "mein Prinz" in act 5.
I did recognize FW's whole "love me"-thing (he says it to Fritz himself too during the whole "will Wilhelmine become a nun" conversation that I did not write much about), I just thought the mental image of him telling Katte of all people was a bit strange. So far, Burte has not really managed to back up the claim that FW is actually the sweetest person (deep deep inside) beyond Katte telling the audience/Wilhelmine that he is, so it feels a little unwarranted from a "theatrical" point of view...? Especially because Burte usually loves exposition dumping. FW gets more stage time in acts 3 and 4 and I did not read everything too closely on my first read through, so I might find something yet.
Now I regret not having read Don Carlos, that might have been interesting for comparison :'D I'll have to look for a Katte play closer to Faust or Die Räuber