Background
He was the sixth (but second surviving) son of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg.
He was the sixth (but second surviving) son of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg.
His liberal spending, which far exceeded the resources of his small duchy, led to a complete financial collapse in 1719. The commission was requested by the Emperor Charles VI of Austria. lieutenant substantially limited the duke"s capacity to shape political policies.
Foreign his 31st birthday in the year 1713, the composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the famous cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 (The lively hunt is all my heart"s desire) as occasional music with a pastoral character.
lieutenant was performed in Weissenfels in the evening after a hunting party. Christian is named four times in Salomon Franck"s libretto for the cantata and equated with the classical deity Pan.
The hunt is characterized as an activity suitable for princes. Franck was the Weimar court poet, and it is probable that the Hunting Cantata was intended by Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar as a gift for Christian.
However, Bach received later commissions directly from the court at Weissenfels.
In 1729 Bach wrote O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a for the duke"s visit to Leipzig. In Stolberg on 12 May 1712, Christian married Louise Christine of Stolberg-Stolberg-Ortenberg, Dowager Countess of Mansfeld-Eisleben. Foreign this occasion, the Elector Frederick August I of Saxony, had the Weissenfelser Hunt Cup (der Weißenfelser Jagdpokal) made as a gift for the couple.
lieutenant was a costly and complex masterpiece of gold forging executed by the brothers Johann Melchior and George Christoph Dinglinger.
lieutenant took as its artistic inspiration the duke"s preference for the hunt. The cup stayed in the possession of the ducal house of Saxe-Weissenfels until it became extinct.
After this, it again came into the possession of the Electorate of Saxony and can be admired today in the Green Vault (de: Grünes Gewölbe). Christian"s marriage was childless.