Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels

Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (2 November 1649 in Halle – 24 May 1697 in Weissenfels), was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and member of the House of Wettin. He was the first son of August, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and his first wife, Anna Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

After the death of his father on 4 June 1680 and the loss of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg (which was secularised by Brandenburg and made over into the Duchy of Magdeburg), Johann Adolf dedicated his first efforts to finishing the still incomplete Schloss Neu-Augustusburg that was begun by his father in 1660; construction at the castle resumed on 18 August 1680.

The consecration of the castle chapel took place on 1 November 1682 and the castle was finally paved in the year 1694. A large theatre had been built earlier that sponsored performances of opera in German beginning in 1685.

At his estate, near the Guardhouses (Kavaliershaeuser), Johann Adolf created the most important formal garden in central Germany of his time. In 1690 pipes were built to supply the castle complex with water from the Selauer Area. The city of Weissenfels prospered to the point where it became not only an administrative center, but also an economic center.

Johann Adolf was a patron of the arts following the model of his father and other members of his family; as court Kapellmeister he appointed Johann Philipp Krieger, who had already served under the late duke. Johann Adolf also discovered the musical talent of the son of his court surgeon Georg Händel and encouraged him to let the young Georg Friedrich seek training in music.

Like his father (who had served as its head), Johann Adolf was accepted into the Fruitbearing Society.

When the county of Rosenburg fell to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg in 1659 after the extinction of the male line of the counts of Barby, Johann Adolf's father, duke August, continued to administer these areas (which were not a part of this patrimony) in spite of the protests of the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, who desired those lands in accordance with the terms of the Peace of Westphalia.

...
Wikipedia