Soon after their first meeting in Leipzig, Schiller's new friend Körner offered to support him for a year or more and give him the ease and the peace of mind to settle to his literary work. Schiller was much restored by Körner's friendship and the congenial atmosphere of the circle of which he was now part. The exuberant ode ‘An die Freude’ (‘Ode to Joy’), though by no means in itself a great poem, nor one for which the poet himself had any regard in later life, has nevertheless, through the fame Beethoven gave it, provided a lasting memorial to Körner's generous support of his new friend. Even before Schiller left Mannheim, Körner brought him to the attention of the Leipzig publisher Göschen, whose advance payments to the poet helped him to settle at least some of his debts. A proper contract with Göschen followed. He took over publication of the Thalia and a lasting collaboration was begun. Schiller lived at Gohlis, just outside Leipzig, until September 1785 and then moved to Loschwitz near Dresden, where the Körners now lived.

The two years he spent in Leipzig and Dresden were not, however, particularly productive. Don Carlos, one act of which had appeared in the Rheinische Thalia before his move, proved a difficult work to complete. Moreover, Schiller became aware through contact with Körner and Huber of the deficiencies of his education and turned to historical reading to make up for them as well as to improve his grasp of the background to Don Carlos.