Franz Spitzner

Franz Spitzner (born October 31, 1787 in Trebitz ; † July 2, 1841 in Wittenberg ; Latinized: Franciscus Spitznerus , full name: Franz Ernst Heinrich Spitzner , also: Ernst Franz Heinrich Spitzner ) was a German classical philologist and pedagogue .

Life

Franz Spitzner was born as the tenth and youngest child of the Evangelical Lutheran pastor Johann Ernst Spitzner . He received his first scientific lessons from his father and his older brother Ernst Traugott (born September 12, 1771 in Trebitz, † August 29, 1818 in Trebitz), who had acted as a substitute for his sick father since 1797 and also became a pastor in Trebitz. In 1802 the parents gave their son Franz to the Pforta state school in Schulpforte , where he was taught by Adolph Gottlob Lange and Johann Friedrich Röhr , from whom he also acquired knowledge of the English language , among others . The early death of the parents in 1805 and the war riots in the following year initially prevented the desired transition to university.

In May 1808 Franz Spitzner was able to start studying theology and philology at the University of Wittenberg . In Wittenberg “he only lived the sciences”, but was also required to take care of his livelihood through private lessons. As a student, Spitzner is said to have “tried to preach more often, especially in his home village” and thereby supported his ailing brother Ernst Traugott, pastor in Trebitz since 1805, but turned under the “stimulating influence” of his academic teacher Christian August Lobeck soon and finally his "real inclination", the classical philology , as well as the school subject.

As a teacher, vice-principal and rector, Spitzner, who was early "the focus of his intellectual activity" with the study of ancient Greek , worked between 1811 and 1841 in Wittenberg (1811-1820 and 1824-1841) and Erfurt (1821-1824). Spas at health resorts in Karlsbad (1828), Putbus on Rügen (1836) and Bad Kissingen (1840) were unable to permanently remedy his compromised state of health. Franz Spitzner, who suffered from "an abdominal ailment" and, most recently, from dropsy of the chest , died while on duty at the age of 53.

Services

Franz Spitzner is regarded as a "well-known philologist and scholar" of the first half of the 19th century. In the summer of 1810 his first work was published in Wittenberg Observationes criticae in Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica et Nonni Dionysiaca with which theology student and young Hellenist recommended that the experts of his time "advantageous". First he taught from March 5, 1811 as vice-principal and successor to Jonathan August Weichert at the Lyceum in Wittenberg. In April 1812 , Spitzner received his doctorate from Leucorea with De productione brevium syllabarum caesurae vi effecta in versu Graeco Heroico maxime Homerico as Dr. phil. Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch acted as the respondent to the disputation . Spitzner's trial lecture was devoted to the topic of De tragoediae Graecorum origine atque indole . In 1812/13 he taught temporarily as a private lecturer at the philosophical faculty of the University of Wittenberg, and from November 1813 to January 1814, during the siege of Wittenberg, he stayed with his brother in Trebitz.

Franz Spitzner headed the Wittenberg Lyceum for the first time from April 19, 1814 to July 8, 1820 as rector. The school, whose history he in 1817 as a "sketch" entitled Summary of the previous history and the new establishment of the Lyceum to Wittenberg as an invitation publication for public autumn testing and then fully in 1830 as tells the story of the high school and school institutions to Wittenberg from sources published , was now organized according to its principles.

From July 20, 1820 to April 1824, as a result of a transfer, Spitzner temporarily worked as the first senior teacher at the extended Evangelical Ratsgymnasium in Erfurt , where he immediately became a member of the Royal Academy of Charitable Sciences in Erfurt , where he stood out with lectures. When he returned to Wittenberg “with a higher salary”, he held his second inaugural address on May 9, 1824 as rector of the Lyceum. He turned down a call to Altona in the summer of 1826. In 1827 the Wittenberg Lyceum was expanded into a grammar school , which in the following year also received a new and “very stately” school building. As rector, Spitzner was able to discharge 171 students to the university; among his students in Wittenberg and Erfurt were u. a. Moritz Axt , Agathon Benary , Johann Heinrich Deinhardt , Friedrich Ritschl , Julius Rosenbaum , Moritz Ludwig Seyffert and Heinrich Christoph Gottlieb Stier .

Between 1810 and 1839 Spitzner, who was an honorary member of the Ducal Latin Society of Jena, published a large number of writings on ancient philological and Graecist topics, including an annotated four-volume edition of Homer's Iliad , the main scientific work 1832/36 . a. Contains "careful observations" on the usage, prosody, and metrics of Homeric poems. His attempt at a brief instruction on Greek prosody from 1823 also appeared in an English translation eight years later. Professor Franz Spitzner, who was “equally highly regarded as a teacher and director”, died in 1841 after a long illness in service. His last printed article was the Wittenberger Schulnachrichten 1840/41. The "important library" left by the Wittenberg Homeriker was auctioned at Hermann Hartung in Leipzig in the summer of 1842.

family

Franz Spitzner was married to Johanna Wilhelmine Gräffe (born May 31, 1789, † January 17, 1850 in Plauen ) from Guthmannshausen near Buttstädt , a daughter of adjunct G. Gräffe, since November 26, 1815 . This marriage, which was closed in shocks , resulted in three children: Franz (born September 24, 1817 in Wittenberg; † November 29, 1819 in Wittenberg), Ida Franziska Wilhelmine (born November 2, 1820 in Erfurt; † March 10, 1902 in Oelsnitz ), who married a cousin, the Planschwitzer pastor Ernst Rudolph Spitzner (born August 28, 1815 in Crossen ; † March 29, 1893 in Oelsnitz) , who was "patriarchal in his small, loyal community" , and finally Ernst Wilhelm (* 16 December 1823 in Erfurt; † April 30, 1890 in Nordhausen ), who, at times brought up in Wetzlar by the local school director Moritz Axt, became a tax adviser and married Sophie Henning (born August 27, 1828 in Coswig ; † March 29, 1900 in Halle ).

Works

• Observationes criticae in Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica et Nonni Dionysiaca. Gräßler, Wittenberg 1810
• De productione brevium syllabarum caesurae vi effecta in versu Graeco Heroico maxime Homerico. Gräßler, Wittenberg 1812
• De versu Graecorum heroico maxime homerico. Accedunt ejusdem mantissa oberservationum criticarum et grammaticarum in Quinti Smyrnaei Posthomericorum libros XIV. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung , Leipzig 1816 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• Brief description of the earlier history and new establishment of the Lyceum zu Wittenberg. Wittenberg 1817
• De indice Argonautarum. Rübener, Wittenberg 1819
• De egregiis quibusdam scholarum publicarum incrementis patriae debitis. Oratio natalibus quinquasemis tertii Friderici Guilielmi III Regis Borussiae, celebrandis in Gymnasio Erfordiensi d. August 3, 1822 habita. Keysersche Buchhandlung, Erfurt 1822
• Observationes criticae maximam partem in Pauli Silentiarii descriptionem magnae ecclesiae. Uckermann, Erfurt 1823
• Attempt a brief instruction on Greek prosody. Henningssche Buchhandlung, Gotha 1823 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011

• English: Elements of Greek Prosody. Translated from the German of Dr. Franz Spitzner by a Member of the University of Oxford. Whittacker, Treacher & Co., London 1831 ( books.google.de ), accessed October 2, 2011

• Elegia latina, qua Wittenbergam rediturus Erfurto valedicebat Franciscus Spitzner. Uckermann, Erfurt 1824 ( bsb-muenchen-digital.de ), accessed on June 6, 2011
• History of the grammar school and schools in Wittenberg told from the sources. Hartmann, Leipzig 1830 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• De vi et usu praepositionum ana et kata apud Homerum. Zimmermann, Wittenberg 1831
• Quaestiuncula de accentus inclinatione particulae peri apud Homerum concedenda. Zimmermann, Leipzig 1832
• Homeri Ilias recensuit et brevi annotatione instruxit Franciscus Spitzner, Saxo. Wilhelm Hennings, 4 vols., Gotha / Erfurt 1832/36, Vol. I., Sect. I. Continens Lib. I-VI ( books.google.de ), Vol. I. Sect. II. Continens Lib. VII-XII ( books.google.de ), Vol. I. Sect. III. Continens Lib. XIII – XVIII ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011; Vol.I. Sec. IV. Continens Lib. XIX – XXIV.
• Epistola ad Godofredum Hermannum. Wilhelm Hennings, Gotha / Erfurt 1834
• Carminum Latinor et Graeco petitor specimen. Rübener, Wittenberg 1836
• Review by Carl Goettling, General Doctrine from the Accent of the Greek Language, Jena 1835. In: Zeitschrift für die Alterthumswwissenschaft. Eduard Heil publisher, Darmstadt, 3rd year, 1836, No. 95, Sp. 761 ff., No. 96, Sp. 769 ff. And No. 97, Sp. 777 ff. ( Books.google.de ), Retrieved April 27, 2012
• Observationes criticae et grammatica in Quinti Smyrnaei Posthomerica. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1837 ( books.google.de ), Leipzig 1839 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• School news from Easter 1840 until then 1841. In: Invitation to announce the public oral examination in the Gymnasium zu Wittenberg on March 31 and April 1 in the morning from 9 o'clock as well as the solemn dismissal of the graduates on April 1 in the afternoon at 3 o'clock . Rübener, Wittenberg 1841, pp. 25 ff. ( Books.google.de ), accessed on March 27, 2012

literature

• Intelligence sheets of the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1810, No. 82, Sp. 633 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 27, 2013
• Intelligence sheets of the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1811, No. 33 and 34, Sp. 260 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• Intelligence sheets of the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1812, No. 42, Sp. 329 ( books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1815, No. 49, Sp. 391 f. (Review) ( zs.thulb.uni-jena.de ), accessed on April 11, 2013
• Supplementary sheets to the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1824, No. 41, Sp. 327 f. (Review) ( zs.thulb.uni-jena.de ), accessed on April 11, 2013
• New necrology of the Germans, 19th year, 1841, first part. Bernhard Friedrich Voigt, Weimar 1843, p. 627 ff. ( Books.google.de ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• Carl Friedrich Heinrich Bittcher: Gatekeeper Album. Directory of all teachers and students of the Royal Prussia. Landesschule Pforta from 1543 to 1843. A memorandum for the institution's third secular celebration on May 21, 1843. Friedrich Christian Wilhelm Vogel, Leipzig 1843, p. 436 ( books.google.de ), accessed on March 6, 2011
• School news from Easter 1841 to Easter 1843. In: Ad Gymnasii Vitebergensis examen diebus V et VI mensis martii a. MDCCCXLIII publice instituendum et ad audiendas iuvenum qui scholae valedicturi sunt orationes omnes bonarum litterarum Gymnasiique fautores ea qua par est observatia invitat Dr. Hermannus Schmidt. Rübener, Wittenberg 1843, p. 11 ff. ( ULB Düsseldorf ), accessed on November 4, 2014
• Pierer's Universal Lexicon of the Past and Present, or Latest Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts. Pierer , fourth, revised and greatly increased edition, Vol. 16, Altenburg 1863, p. 577 ( books.google.com ), accessed on October 2, 2011
• Gustav Hertzberg : To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the unification of the Universities of Halle and Wittenberg. Halle 1867, p. 11 ( books.google.de ), accessed on December 15, 2013
• Conrad Bursian : History of Classical Philology in Germany from the Beginnings to the Present. Oldenbourg, Vol. 2, Munich 1883, p. 713 f.
• Richard Hoche :  Spitzner, Franz Ernst Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 224 f., Accessed on October 2, 2011
• Erich Weise (ed.): Family chronicle of the Spitzner family. Printed and published by C. Heinrich, Dresden 1936, pp. 42 and 47
• Veronika Birckner-Albrecht: Pastors book of the church province of Saxony. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Vol. 8: Biogramme Schr - To, Leipzig 2008, p. 317 ISBN 978-3-374-02142-0
• Albert Spitzner-Jahn: The Vogtland Spitzner family. Self-published, 2nd edition, Kamp-Lintfort 2011, pp. 10 and 155 f.