Christian Gottfried Körner

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Christian Gottfried Körner (2 July 1756 – 13 May 1831) was a German jurist. His home was a literary and musical salon, and he was a friend of Friedrich Schiller. Born in Leipzig, he studied law at the University of Göttingen and at the Leipzig University. He got his degrees at Leipzig. In 1783 he became chief councillor of the Lutheran Upper Consistory at Dresden; he was appointed to the office of judge in the Court of Appeals in 1790; and, in 1811, he returned to the appellate court. His home in Dresden was an important center for culture and the arts. Riggs (1997) writes: "The Körner household in Dresden ... became a literary and musical salon. Plays and essays were read; Singspiele and chamber music were performed; and lectures on art were given. Guests and participants included Johann Gottfried von Herder, Goethe, Wilhelm von Humboldt, the Schlegel brothers [August and Friedrich], Ludwig Tieck, Novalis, and the musicians Johann Naumann, Johann Hiller, Karl Zelter, Mozart, and Weber". Körner went so far as to have a small theatre built in his home, at which his family and friends performed plays. A number of the plays of Friedrich Schiller, his close friend, received their private premieres in this theater, whilst his only comedy Körner's Morning was written for Körner's birthday. He corresponded with Goethe. Schiller lived with him much of the time between 1785 and 1787. Following the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, during the Russian and Prussian occupation of Saxony, he

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