Perspectivia

Glück_Ernst_Johann

Surname

Глюк; Glück

Name

Эрнст Иоганн; Ernst Johann, Ernestus

Languages taught

German; Latin; Russian

Confession

Lutheran

Place of birth, town (province)

Wettin (near Halle/Saale)

Date of birth

1654-05-18

Place of death, country

Russia

Place of death, town (province)

Moscow

Date of death

1705-05-05

Family relations

Married to Christina Emerentia von Reuter (died 1740); he was the father of Christian Bernard Glück (died 1735-12-24), teacher at the Moscow Foreign Language School and Russian Privy Counselor (“Kammerrat”) and of Ernst Gottlieb Glück (died 1757), Russian Counsellor of Justice; several daughters.

Education

According to an entry in the Bible of the Glück family, Johann Ernst was enrolled at the grammar school at Altenburg (Thuringia) at the age of eleven. He probably attended this school for the usual duration of seven years, before he matriculated at the university of Wittenberg in 1672 to study theology. Presumably, he finished his studies in 1675 and left for Livonia (Riga) - some sources also note that he moved there in 1673. A few years later, he returned to his homeland in order to improve his knowledge of Hebrew and Old Greek and therefore registered at the university of Leipzig in summer 1679. Glück also studied Hebrew with the renowned orientalist Esdras(s) Edzardus in Hamburg.

Initial profession

theologian, preacher and pedagogue

Career before coming to Russia

In 1680, Glück moved to Livonia again, where he became pastor and provost in Marienburg (1683). He founded the first schools for Latvian children and started to train teachers for these schools. He translated the Bible and the catechism into Latvian (New Testament, Riga 1685, Old Testament, Riga 1689) and also wrote Latvian primers (fibulas). Furthermore, he translated the Slavonic Bible into Russian, though the manuscript was lost afterwards. During the Northern War, in August 1702, Glück and his family were captured by Russians and brought to Moscow, where they arrived on January 6, 1703.

Career in Russia

After about two weeks Glück and his family were allowed to leave the monastery, where the Latvian captives had been kept imprisoned. They were released relatively quickly, since Glück enjoyed an excellent reputation as pedagogue, translator and adept of the Russian language and they probably received some support from Marta Skavronskaia, the later wife of Peter I, who was brought up in the household of J.E. Glück. They moved into the house of the Lutheran pastor Bartholomäus Vagetius, who had acted as a guarantor for Glück, in the German Quarter,. At the same time, on January 19th 1703, Peter I entrusted Glück with the reorganisation of a small school of foreign languages, which had been run by N. Schwimmerat the Posolskiy prikaz (Foreign Department) since July 1701. Thus, Glück became the teacher of nine pupils (six from Schwimmer’s school plus three brothers Веселовский). Glück and two other teachers engaged by Glück (probably Johann Gustav Wurm and Glück’s son Christian Bernhard Glück, Johann Werner Paus or Johann Jean Lambert [Merlot]), successfully taught the pupils Latin, German and French. On December 15, 1703, Glück addressed a petitionary letter to Peter I and asked for permission to expand the school on a state-approved and state-funded basis (letter published by Белокуров, С.А., Зерцалов А.Н, 1907, p. 46f.). Other oral petitions addressed to the tsar by Glück with detailed information about the organisation of the projected institution are equally documented by Белокуров, С.А., Зерцалов А.Н, 1907, p. 47f. The school was intended to be a grammar school, similar to the Western European type of Knight Academy, with a focus on teaching languages (Latin, German, French, Slavonic, Hebrew and other oriental languages) as well as rhetoric, philosophy, geometry, arithmetic, geography, politics and history. Glück’s plans even foresaw the teaching of dancing and riding, but these ideas were never realized. In March 1704, Glück contacted A.H. Francke and asked for support for the school by sending teachers and books. At that time, according to Glück’s statement, 16 pupils attended the school, amongst them one noble (Yury [Jurge!] Ivanovich Gagarin, see: letter from Glück to Francke dated March 8, 1704, published by Winter, 1953, p. 373-378). Glück’s working conditions improved when he received permission to move into the palace of the late prince Naryshkin in Pokrovka-Street, where students and teachers could be accommodated together. Eventually, the tsar agreed to Glück’s plans to found a real grammar school and enabled him to put them into practice. Based on the decree of February 25, 1705, the school was officially founded and put under the control of the authorities of St Petersburg and Ingria (Ingermanland) with an annual budget of 3000 roubles for maintenance. The school was provided with several privileges. Accordingly, pupils had a daily allowance (4-10 kopeck) and were exempted from military service. As a result, the number of pupils attending the school quickly rose to 28 in the course of the year 1705. Tragically, Glück was not given the opportunity to put his school project into action completely. He died unexpectedly only two months after the official foundation of his school on May 5, 1705. Nevertheless, Glück is remembered as the founder of the first Russian grammar school. After Glück’s death the school was directed by J.W. Paus (until summer 1706) and J.Ch. Büttner (summer 1706 until the end of 1710).

Institutions in which the teacher has taught in Russia

Moscow Foreign Language School

Pupils

Semen (Semyon) Andreev; Fedor (Fyodor) Bogdanov; Avraam Pavlovich Veselovsky; Isaak Pavlovich Veselovsky; Fedor (Fyodor) Pavlovich Veselovsky; Petr Ivanov Volkov; Ivan Gramotin; Yakov Gramotin; Petr Gubin; Samoilo Kopyev; Vasily Kurdevsky; Aleksey Nikitin

Social status of teacher’s pupils

civil servants; servants; nobility

Glück’s first pupils, who had started to learn foreign languages at N. Schwimmer’s school, were predominantly the sons of civil servants. They were trained to become translators in the administration or to be sent abroad to work in the diplomatic service.

Place of work in Russia, city (province)

Moscow

Dates of existence of the school / pedagogical activity

02.1703-05.1705

Subjects and aspects of subjects taught by the teacher

Latin; German; Russian

Methods of teaching

In his letter to A.H. Francke dated March 1704, Glück described briefly the methods implemented for teaching languages in his school. A lesson usually started as follows: the pupils had spontaneously to read one chapter of the bible and translate it into Russian. Afterwards, they had to repeat the content and draw a conclusion. Since the number of manuals was insufficient, pupils often had to copy books by hand. This was the case, for example, with J.A. Comenius’ “Vestibulum”, a dictionary, which was transcribed by the students, who also added a Russian translation (see letter from Glück to Francke, in Winter, 1953, p.377).

Textbooks and other didactical literature used by the teacher

  • · Comenius, Johann Amos, Vestibulum linguae latinae […].
  • · Comenius, Johann Amos, Januae linguarum reseratae […],
  • · Comenius, Johann Amos, Orbis sensualium pictus […] Die sichtbare Welt […] (possibly: Nürnberg, 1698).
  • It is not quite clear, which editions of Comeniusʼ books were used at Glück’s school. What we know is that Glück translated Comeniusʼ “Vestibulum”, “Januae” and “Orbis pictus” into Russian. The “Vestibulum” was completed by the end of 1703 and Glück addressed a petition to the tsar to publish it as “Преддверие к познанию русскаго, немецкаго, латинскаго и францускаго языков” (Белокуров 1907, стр. 47). However, all the manuscripts remained unpublished.
  • One of Glückʼs translations of the “Orbis pictus”, which was overshadowed by the work done by J.W. Paus, is kept in the manuscript section of the Library of the Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg (BAN, otd. ruk., osn. sobr.26.3.50.).
  • Other texts, used in language classes at Glück’s school: Lutheran bible; Lutheran catechism; German chants; French grammar. The texts were translated or adapted by J.E. Glück for his Russian pupils.

Publications made by the teacher concerning the acquisition of foreign languages

  • · Unfinished manuscript of a Russian Grammar (1704). The manuscript contains two parts: etymology and syntax. The other classic parts of a grammar, orthography and prosody, are missing. The grammar, written by Glück from 1703 onwards, was intended to help foreigners to learn Russian. One target group might have been the teachers of Glück’s school, for whom it was necessary to learn Russian. Glück’s reference was the Slavonic Grammar of Meletij Smotryckij (ed. 1648), in which Glück tried to find examples of contemporary Russian language. The systematic organization of Glück’s grammar was based on the Latin school grammar of Johann Georg Seybold (4th issue, Nürnberg 1675). The manuscript of Glück’s Russian grammar was edited by H. Keipert, B.A. Uspenskij and V.M. Živov in 1994. The grammar is one of the earliest grammatico-graphical works in the Russian language.
  • Translations into Russian:
  • · Comenius, Johann Amos, Vestibulum linguae latinae […].
  • · Comenius, Johann Amos, Januae linguarum reseratae […].
  • · Comenius, Johann Amos, Orbis sensualium pictus […] Die sichtbare Welt […] (possibly: Nürnberg, 1698).
  • · Hübner, J. Kurze Fragen aus der neuen und alten Geographie, Leipzig, 1693. J.E. Glück together with J.W. Paus was charged with the instruction of Czarevitch Alexej Petrovich. In this context, the popular teaching manual “Short questions from old and new geography” by Johann Hübner was translated into Russian. The manuscript is preserved in the manuscript section of the Academy of Sciences in the collection of J.W. Paus. Following the previous research literature, it is not quite clear whether Glück or Paus was the author of this translation (see Glück, Polanska, 2005, p. 111f.).
  • · 52 Lutheran hymns. Glück translated 52 Lutheran hymns into Russian for the use in his classes. The hymns, preserved in the collection of Paus, were edited by Perec, 1902, p. 7-84.
  • · Translations of the New and Old Testament and the catechism into Latvian (New Testament, Riga 1685, Old Testament, Riga 1689).
  • · Latvian primers (fibulas).

Sources

  • Белокуров С.А., Зерцалов А.Н., О немецких школах в Москве в первой четверти ХVIII в. Документы Московских архивов. 1701-1715, в: Чтения в Императорском обществе истории и древностей российских, при Московском университете, book I, part 1, vol. 220, pp. I-XLI & 1-244, Moscow, 1907, pp. II-IXg; XXII-XLI; Erik-Amburger-Datenbank. Ausländer im vorrevolutionären Russland [http://dokumente.ios-regensburg.de/amburger/index.php?id=53467&mode=1]; Rauch, Georg von, "Glück, Ernst Johann", in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 6 (1964), p. 469 f. [online: http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/ppn119170477.html]; Glück H., Polanska I., Johann Ernst Glück (1654-1705), Pastor, Philologe, Volksaufklärer im Baltikum und in Russland, Wiesbaden, 2005, pp. 9-13, 87-127; Glück J.E. Grammatik der russischen Sprache (1704). Hrsg. und mit einer Einleitung versehen von H. Keipert, B. Uspenskij und V. Živov, Köln, Weimar, Wien, 1994; Koch K., Deutsch als Fremdsprache im Russland des 18. Jahrhunderts. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Fremdsprachenlernens in Europa und zu den deutsch-russischen Beziehungen, Berlin, New York, 2002, pp. 104f., 155, 176ff., 212f.; Kovrigina V.A., Die deutschen Lehrer in Moskau in der zweiten Hälfte des 17. und im ersten Viertel des 18.Jahrhunderts, Lüneburg, 2000, p. 33f.; Перетц В.Н., Историко-литературные исследования и материалы. Т. 3: Из истории развития русской поэзии ХVIII в., St. Petersburg, 1902, pp. 7-84; Winter E., Halle als Ausgangspunkt der deutschen Russlandkunde im 18. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1953, pp. 373-378.

Author of the article

Kristine Dahmen