Schwanwitz

Surname

Шванович (Шванвиц, Шваневитц, Шванвич); Schwanwitz (Schwanewitz, Schwanewiz)

Name

Мартин; Martin

Languages taught

German; Russian

Confession

Lutheran

Place of birth, country

Poland

Place of birth, town (province)

Thorn

Date of birth

1687

Probably before 1687. According to a register of the local citizens of Thorn in the 17th century, Martin Schwanwitz became naturalised in Thorn in 1687. A list of non-local citizens of Thorn in the 17th century lists Hans Schwanwitz, probably Martin’s father, who became naturalised in Thorn in 1649.

Place of death, country

Russia

Place of death, town (province)

St. Petersburg

Date of death

1740-10-14

Family relations

first wife: Anna Catharina Hagen (died 15.11.1737, St. Petersburg); second wife: Christina Dorothea

Education

Martin Schwanwitz attended the local grammar school in Thorn, where he probably learned Polish. His command of the Polish language is documented in a poem, which he composed for his father in Polish at the end of his time at the Thorn grammar school.

Initial profession

Lorimer (шорник) by profession in Thorn in 1687. A list of non-local citizens of Thorn in the 17th century lists Hans Schwanwitz, probably Martin’s father, also as a lorimer by profession.

Career before coming to Russia

Based on his own records, from 1715 he was the director of the post office in Thorn and remained in this position for about two and a half years.

Career in Russia

Schwanwitz came to Russia as the secretary of the Commissioner-General (“Generalkommissar”) Manteufel, whom he served for about eight months. From June 1718 onwards, he worked as a civil servant and translator at the Collegium of State Income (“Kamer-Kollegia”) in St. Petersburg.

In 1725, he applied for a scholarship at the newly founded Academy of Sciences, which was urgently looking for competent students – especially with some knowledge of Russian or other Slavonic languages. According to his contract dated September 1th 1725, Schwanwitz was engaged for 5 years with a yearly salary of 200 roubles, and also received free lodging, firewood and candles. Being a student at the Academy, he worked simultaneously as a teacher of German (“информатор немецкого языка“) at the Academy school. In October 1730 he was listed as a teacher of German in class five, also known as the “lower” class or Quinta, with an annual salary of 300 roubles. From January 1728 onwards, he took over the task of translating the St. Petersburg newspaper (Sanktpetersburgische Zeitung) and its appendix from German into Russian. For this work, he received an additional remuneration of 72 roubles per annum. He also taught some of his own students translation, and later on it helped him to translate the newspaper.

In February 1732, Schwanwitz left the Academy in order to become the first “Hofmeister” of the Noble Cadet Corps, which was just founded. Since there was no teacher for German, Schwanwitz additionally offered to teach German three hours a day, until another suitable teacher for German would be identified. However, in his position as “Hofmeister”, he was not very successful and was discharged in January 1734. But being a good teacher for German and Russian, he stayed at the Corps and in September 1734 even received the title and position of a professor of the Russian language.

At the beginning of 1735, since Schwanwitz faced financial difficulties resulting from his activities as “Hofmeister”, he asked the Academy for being re-employed and was accepted. From March 1th 1735, he became rector of the Academy School’s German Section (with an annual salary of 300 roubles) and also inspector for the boarding school which was recently set up at that time (with an annual salary of 200 roubles). Additionally to his duties as rector and teacher, Schwanwitz was committed to translating “various documents coming up at the Academy in Russian and German languages” and also should correct “the school manuals which will be published”. Furthermore, he was obliged to join the newly established “Russian Assembly”, a group of highly qualified translators, who met twice a week to discuss ongoing translations. The other individuals, belonging to this group, were V. K. Trediakovskiy, V. E. Adodurov and J. J. Taubert. Even though Schwanwitz had a good and stable position at the Academy, he continued to have serious financial problems, because the Cadet Corps’ chancellery requested the pay-back of a financial loss, which Schwanwitz incurred during his time as “Hofmeister”. However, these issues should not question his overall importance and overall contribution: given his great dedication to teaching and training pupils, producing textbooks, translating and – in general – improving the conditions of teaching, Schwanwitz is seen as one of Russia’s best language teachers of its time.

Institutions in which the teacher has taught in Russia

Academy School (at the Academy of Science); Infantry Noble Cadet Corps

Pupils

In the first half of the 18th century, both the Academy School and the Noble Cadet Corps were the most important schools in Russia. The Academy School’s pupil registers, published by Sukhomlinov in his Материалы для истории Императорской Академии Наук, list about 820 pupils attending the Academy School during this period of time. At least two thirds of these pupils learned German, in the higher classes with Schwanwitz as their teacher. The names of a large number of these pupils, aged between 6 and 20 years, are known and listed in Sukhomlinov’s registers including information about their social backgrounds and learning interests. Examples are M.I. Alekseev and I.P. Iakhontov, who helped Schwanwitz to translate the newspapers and their appendix.

As for the Noble Cadet Corps, in 1732 the list of pupils indicates that 163 out of 223 Russian Cadets learned German. Consequently, one can conclude that Martin Schwanwitz, during his 15 years long pedagogical career, had several hundreds of students.

Social status of teacher’s pupils

nobility; civil servants; merchants; soldiers; peasants

In November 1736, Schwanwitz gave a detailed report of the number and social status of all students, who were registered at the Academy school and learned German. In principle, there were two different categories of students, attending the Academy school: students in receipt of a governmental scholarship and independent (self-funding) pupils. Schwanwitz’ report lists 78 independent pupils, among them 54 nobles and 24 non-nobles. 57 pupils received a scholarship, among them 42 children, whose fathers served in the admiralty or in the army and who were sent to the Academy school, especially to learn German. Thus, the family background of the pupils was largely diversified from a wide spectrum of professions: from the higher nobility, army officers and civil servants like staff members of the Academy’s chancellery or the Collegia to merchants, craftsmen, soldiers, farmers and even simple servants.

Place of work in Russia, city (province)

St. Petersburg

Dates of existence of the school / pedagogical activity

1725--1740

Subjects and aspects of subjects taught by the teacher

reading in German; writing in German; German grammar; translation from Russian into German; history; Russian

At the Academy School, Schwanwitz started his pedagogical career as a teacher in the beginners’ class, which was class five, also called Quinta or lower (“нижний“) German class. In this class, pupils learned to read (e.g. the bible) and write in German and also studied German grammar. Later on, being already rector of the German Section at the Academy School, Schwanwitz instructed the advanced learner in the higher class and also gave some guidance to his colleagues (probably Johann Georg Oestermann and M. Potapsky) in the medium class and the lowest class. According to the curriculum of March 1735, published by Sukhomlinov, Schwanwitz had to teach the higher class “write in German letters and translate clearly and with sense” and also gave lessons in history and geography (most likely in German too, since the textbooks were written in German). The timetables, belonging to the curriculum of March 1735, list the following subjects, taught by the rector: “various exercices, explanations, letters and epistles, history“.

In the medium class, Schwanwitz guided his colleagues in teaching “grammar [...], conversation and simple exercices to be translated from Russian into German”. The lowest class focused on learning “reading German and Latin books” and German etymology and also orthography and arithmetics.

In 1737, the Academy’s documents, published by Sukhomlinov, also mentioned Schwanwitz as teacher of Russian. Most probably, Schwanwitz received this additional task after having returned from the Cadet Corps, where he had taught both languages - German and Russian.

Methods of teaching

Even though Martin Schwanwitz actively produced or translated textbooks for his own classes, he did not leave any written comments on his understanding about how to teach languages. Nonetheless, from some of his statements and also from his German Grammar we can see that Schwanwitz attached great importance to involve Russian when teaching German. Schwanwitz seems to have had a quite good knowledge of Russian himself. Furthermore, he consistently demanded that teachers should know both German and Russian, which very often was not the case, and offered to train his own pupils as bilingual teachers. The main textbook used in all German classes was Schwanwitz’ own German Grammar. This grammar book was bilingual, contrary to the German grammar of Charmyntes (Schwanwitz’ main source), written only in German. Each page was divided in two parallel columns, offering the whole text in a German and in a Russian version. The book was organized in four main chapters: “Orthographia”, “Etymologia”, “Syntaxis” and “Prosodia”. Therefore, it could be used not only to teach the theory of grammar, but also spelling and pronunciation. Schwanwitz also used Russian to compare some of the German grammatical structures to their equivalent in Russian, as for example the subjunctive, the future tense or the auxiliary verb “werden”. Thus, Schwanwitz’ grammar book constitutes the first German grammar book for Russians which compares the two languages in a few places. Contrary to the German grammar of Charmyntes, Schwanwitz’ grammar book contained quite a lot of exemplary sentences with an obvious link to Russian reality. Sentences like “Du mußt heute nach Peterhof reisen” or “Er pflegt alle Jahr nach Moscau zu reisen” was not only meant to illustrate the grammatical rules, but could also be used for pronunciation exercises, for being memorized or for translation exercises, which were, in general, the most common types of exercises in the 18th century. For oral practice, Schwanwitz could have used the school dialogues, published in 1738. The German calendars, most likely, were used for reading and for translation exercises, which were the predominant type of exercise in the advanced classes.

Textbooks and other didactical literature used by the teacher

[Schwanwitz, Martin], Немецкая грамматика, из разных авторов собрана и российской юности в пользу издана от учителя немецкого языка при Санкт-Петербургской гимназии, St Petersburg, Типогр. АН, 1730.
[Weissmann, Ehrenreich], Немецко-латинский и русский лексикон купно с первыми началами рускаго языка к общей полъзе при Имп. Академии науке, печатию издан, St Petersburg, Типогр. АН, 1731.
Латино-российская и немецкая словесная книга, St Petersburg, Типогр. АН, 1732 (used particularly at the Cadet Corps).
[Joachim Lange], Colloquia Scholastica, Школьные разговоры, Schul-Gespräche, Dialogues, St Petersburg, Типогр. АН, 1738.
Азбука на немецком языке (probably: St Petersburg, 1714).
Немецкий календарь.
Steinbach, Christoph Ernst, Vollständiges deutsches Wörterbuch vel lexicon germanico latinum cum praefationibus et autoris et Johannis Ulrici König, Breslau, 1734.
Frisch, Johann Leonhard, Nouveau Dictionnaire des Passagers François-Allemand Et Allemand-François, Oder Neues Frantzösisch-Teutsches und Teutsch-Frantzösisches Wörter-Buch: Worinnen Alle Frantzösische Wörter, auch der Künste und Wissenschaften, aus den vollkommensten und neuesten Dictionariis, nebst den nöthigsten Constructionen und Redens-Arten, durch kürtzlich gezeigte Etymologie, und durch das gebräuchlichste, auch reineste Teutsche erkläret worden […], Leipzig, 1733.

Publications made by the teacher concerning the acquisition of foreign languages

[Schwanwitz, Martin], Немецкая грамматика, из разных авторов собрана и российской юности в пользу издана от учителя немецкого языка при Санкт-Петербургской гимназии, St Petersburg, Типогр. АН, 1730. Martin Schwanwitz is the author of the first grammar book for German, published in Russia for Russian students. This grammar book was a revised and supplemented version of the German Grammar of Charmyntes (the real name of the author remains unknown, possibly, it was Johann Leonhard Frisch), published in Berlin in 1713, also for Russian students. The Academy of Sciences charged Schwanwitz with writing a German grammar book, since there were no textbooks at all available for teaching. Presumably, Schwanwitz got this order relatively early, because already in 1728, the Academy’s Chancellery announced that the German grammar would be published soon. The first edition published in 1730, used in the Academy school and in the Noble Cadet Corps, was quickly out of stock, the same applied to the second edition of 1734, supplemented by V.E. Adodurov, Schwanwitz’ Russian colleague. It is well documented that Schwanwitz used his grammar book in his own classes. In February 1739, for example, he ordered three copies of the German grammar - that is one for each of the three German classes. The copy for the major class, the most advanced one, had to be interleaved with writing paper, so that mistakes could be corrected and amendments could be done. After Schwanwitz’ death in 1740, the third edition realized in 1745, was prepared by the Academy professor J. J. Stählin. This time, the number of copies issued was 2400, which was extremely high for this time. This and the following editions of 1762, 1791, and 1802 were widely used for teaching German in Russian schools. As a result, Schwanwitz’ German Grammar became one of the most successful German grammar books in 18th century Russia in general.
Compendium Grammaticae Russicae. Schwanwitz is also one of the authors of the Compendium Grammaticae Russicae, a Russian grammar book dating from 1731, which enabled Germans to learn Russian. Although it was ordered by the first president of the Academy of Science, L. L. Blumentrost, it stayed unpublished at the time and was published only recently (the manuscript is kept in: Library of the Russian Academy of sciences, f.250).
[Weissmann, Ehrenreich], Немецко-латинский и русский лексикон купно с первыми началами рускаго языка к общей полъзе при Имп. Академии науке, печатию издан, Санкт-Петербург, Типогр. АН, 1731. Together with V. E. Adodurov and other translators of the Academy (namely I.I. Iliinskiy, I.S. Gorlitskiy and I.P. Satarov), Schwanwitz worked on translating Ehrenreich Weismann’s Lexicon Latino-Germanicum into Russian. The new trilingual version of the dictionary was issued in 1731.
[Joachim Lange], Colloquia Scholastica, Школьные разговоры, Schul-Gespräche, Dialogues, Санкт-Петербург, Типогр. АН, 1738. After having returned to the Academy of Science in 1735, Schwanwitz got the order to translate Joachim Lange’s popular “Colloquia Scholastica” into Russian, whereas his colleague Johann Eberhard Fischer, rector of the Academy School’s Latin Section, translated the Latin part into German. The new Latin-Russian-German-French version was published in 1738 at the Academy Press (reprints followed around 1748/49 [year, indicated on the title of this edition: 1738], in 1763 [number of copies published: 1200] and 1789). In Russian schools, the School Dialogues became highly popular and were used intensely until the end of the 18th century. They were indispensable in the lower German classes, where, according to the Academy school’s curricula of 1748 and 1758, their use was compulsory. Later, in 1776, the Moscow University issued a version in five languages that also included a translation into Greek (further editions in 1785 and 1800).
In 1737, Schwanwitz worked on translating the “school book by Seyboldi” (Sukhomlinov, 1886, vol.3, p.580). The documents specify neither the exact book, nor the full name of the author, but most probably, it was the Latin-German dialogues of the German philologist Johann Georg Seybold, which were quite popular in German schools at that time. This assumption is supported by the fact that the Academy already disposed of a version of the Latin-German dialogues, translated into Russian by Johann Werner Paus, who also worked at the Academy as a translator. Therefore, we don’t follow Lepekhin’s thesis, according to which the book was a “instruction for storing anatomic and taxidermic exhibits”, written by the German-Dutch pharmacist Albert Seba, whose collection was purchased for the Kunstkamera by Peter I.

Other publications made by the teacher

Schwanwitz has also composed a few poems. He translated some German poems into Russian, published in the Saint Petersburg newspaper, and also wrote his own lyrics in German, for example in 1727 a poem on the occasion of the birthday of Peter II (for details see the article by M.L. Lepekhin).

Sources

Берков, П. Н. Из истории русской поэзии первой трети XVIII века. (К проблеме тонического стиха.). http://pushkinskijdom.ru/Portals/3/PDF/XVIII/01_tom_XVIII/berkov-1/berkov-1.pdf

Ďurovič, Ľubomír, Об источниках парадигматики современного русского литературного языка,

Лепехин, М. П., Шванвиц, Мартин. http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pushkinskijdom.ru%2FLinkClick.aspx%3Ffileticket%3Du7B_7ZkfDew%253D%26tabid%3D10384&ei=xt9YVOLEIoKxPMGkgLAF&usg=AFQjCNEF_5XcwCxgdA8M0U0rYvzZL45ZSQ&sig2=m7F0h9DbDFo0IY6YntDGZA&bvm=bv.78677474,d.ZWU
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Сухомлинов, М. И. Материалы для истории Академии наук. St Petersburg, 1885, vol.1, p.142, 172, 353f., 371, 593, 650-654; 1886, vol.2, p.163, 177, 435, 641, 693, 800; 1886, vol.3, p.258 -274, 580; 1887, vol.4, p.19, 491, 538, 550f.; 1890, vol.6, p.393.
Compendium Grammaticae Russicae (1731). Die erste Akademie-Grammatik der russischen Sprache, ed. by H. Keipert, A. Huterer. (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, Neue Folge, Heft 121), München, 2002, p.9, 26-29.
Erik-Amburger-Datenbank. Ausländer im vorrevolutionären Russland http://dokumente.ios-regensburg.de/amburger/?id=54671
Keipert, Helmut, Die Petersburger „Teutsche Grammatica“ und die Anfänge der Russistik in Rußland. In: Studia slavica in honorem viri doctissimi Olexa Horbatsch, ed. by G. Freidhof, P. Kosta, M. Schütrumpf. München, 1983, pp.77-140.
Keipert, Helmut, Der Fremdsprachenunterricht in der Frühzeit des Petersburger Akademie-Gymnasiums. In: Early Protestantism in Eastern Europe, ed. by V. du Fen. Palata knigopisnaja, 16. 1987, pp.68-86.
Keipert, Helmut, Groening und Schwanwitz. In: “Primi sobran'e pestrych glav”: Slavistische und slavenkundliche Beiträge für Peter Brang zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. by C. Goehrke, R. Kemball, D. Weiss. Bern, 1989, pp.469-487.
Koch, Kristine, 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. 146f., 158f., 178f., 184, 188, 221-226, 266, 326f., 373, 385-388.
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Semrau, Arthur, Die Bürgerlisten der Stadt Thorn aus dem 17. Jahrhundert, I. Die einheimischen Bürger. In: Mittheilungen des Coppernicus-Vereins für Wissenschaft und Kunst zu Thorn, 27. Thorn, 1919, p.66. http://www.thorn-wpr.de/fqSABlTh.htm
Semrau, Arthur, Die Bürgerlisten der Stadt Thorn aus dem 17. Jahrhundert, II. Die ausländischen Bürger. In: Mittheilungen des Coppernicus-Vereins für Wissenschaft und Kunst zu Thorn, 28. Thorn, 1920, p.40. http://www.thorn-wpr.de/fqSABlTh.htm

Author of the article

Kristine Dahmen