Dresden Staatskapelle Dresden", founded in 1548. The Dresden State Theatre runs a number of smaller theatres. The Dresden State Operetta is the only independent operetta in Germany. The "Herkuleskeule" (Hercules club) is an important site in German-speaking political cabaret. There are several choirs in Dresden, the best-known of which is the Dresdner Kreuzchor (Choir of The Holy Cross). It is a boys' choir drawn from pupils of the Kreuzschule, and was founded in the 13th century. The "Dresdner Kapellknaben" are not related to the "Staatskapelle", but to the former "Hofkapelle", the Catholic cathedral, since 1980. The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra is the
Culture in Dresden of their activities and influence. Friedrich Schiller published his Ode to Joy in Dresden which he began in Gohlis near Leipzig in 1785. E. T. A. Hoffmann's novella "The Golden Pot. A Modern Fairytale" is set in Dresden and was published in 1814. "The Golden Pot" has parts of realistic descriptions of Dresden and fades into a surreal world of myths. Hoffmann witnessed the Battle of Dresden in 1813. Erich Kästner grow up in Dresden. He worked off his youth in Dresden ("The Flying Classroom") and his military training in an artillery battalion in the Dresden Albertstadt garrison (poem "Sergeant