Theodor Körner
Körner, Theodor, in full Karl Theodor (Dresden, 1791-1813, Gadebusch, Mecklenburg), only son of Schiller's friend C. G. Körner, was sent down from Leipzig University because of a duel and went in 1811 to Vienna, where he began to write plays. One of these, the tragedy Zriny, was performed at the Thea-ter an der Wien and shortly afterwards he was appointed house dramatist (Hoftheaterdichter) to the Burgtheater. In March 1813 he joined Lützow's Free Corps, was commissioned in April, and in August was mortally wounded in a skirmish near Gadebusch in Mecklenburg.
Körner was a precocious and prolific writer, who left five tragedies, including Toni, an adaptation of the story Die Verlobung in St Domingo by H. von Kleist, and five comedies, of which the best known is the one-act Der Nachtwächter (1812). He also wrote a one-act anecdote based on his war experiences (Josef Heyderich), and four stories. Little attention was paid to his early poetry (Knospen, 1810), but his patriotic poems, collected by his father and published posthumously as Leyer und Schwerdt (1814), were read all over Germany. They are the best work of a facile author, whose reputation was enhanced for more than a century by the patriotic manner of his death in the Wars of Liberation (Befreiungskriege, see Napoleonic Wars).
