Love and Malice (Croatian: Ljubav i zloba) is an opera in two acts composed by Vatroslav Lisinski to a libretto by Dimitrija Demeter.

Its premiere had been delayed when the singer who was to take the leading male role was shot and seriously injured during the Austrian crackdown on Croatian nationalists in July 1845.

[5] Young Lisinski, author of music for reveille Prosto zrakom ptica leti (Bird flies freely through the air), seemed as a good choice.

Libretto was then reworked by Dimitrija Demeter (who is considered to be its author), while the instrumentation was refined by JK Wisner Morgenstern, Lisinski's music teacher.

[6] After extensive preparations Opera was first performed on March 28, 1846 in the Old City Hall in Zagreb, ten years after Glinka's Life for the Tsar and twenty before Smetana's The Bartered Bride.

Besides great success of the first performance and favorable social and cultural circumstances, Opera's protagonists also contributed to its popularity: Countess Sidonija Rubido as Ljubica, Franjo Stazić (later known as Franz Steger/Stéger Xavér Ferenc, leading tenor of the Vienna Court Opera) as Vukosav, and Alberto Ognjan Štriga.

Vukosav and his servant Branko hatch a plot to kidnap Ljubica and kill Velimir with the help of twelve Hajduk's.