The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The first public eurythmy performance in Zurich was scheduled for October 18, 1918. For this performance, which was officially canceled at short notice, while the lecture that had also been scheduled could take place, Rudolf Steiner drafted an announcement or poster text that exists in two variations and a fair copy by Marie Steiner. Ultimately, the first public eurythmy performance could not take place until February 24, 1919 in Zurich; see pp. 49-161. In the Zurich lecture of October 17, 1918, Rudolf Steiner briefly mentioned the cancellation of the event.

From the lecture Zurich, October 17, 1918

We ourselves have tried to develop efforts that are close to one area of spiritual science, to bring the gestural aspect of language back into view in what we call eurythmy, where we have tried to get the whole person moving and to express, through the movements of the limbs , through movements of the human form in space, through group movements, through the relationships between people, to express in a gestural way that which is otherwise also noticed in the gesture, but only not as a gesture, and which is expressed through the human larynx and its neighboring organs. We call this kind of movement art, which must penetrate humanity as something new, eurythmy. And we here in Zurich wanted to tie in with this lecture with a eurythmic presentation. It has to be postponed because we were given permission to give these lectures in the current difficult times, but not to give this eurythmic performance. It would have shown how the whole human being becomes the larynx, as it were. By becoming aware of what language is, we arrive at something that will become particularly important, quite fundamentally important for life in the present and the future.

From the address in Dornach, November 3, 1918

When we were in the very satisfactory position of being able to organize a public eurythmy performance in Zurich, we had to decide on introductory words for the philistines we were inviting – well, how should I put it, it's always on the tip of my tongue, something disrespectful – that could then be printed. And I also wanted to emphasize for this matter of eurythmy, which will certainly be extraordinarily important for the world at some point, that in what is now to be presented to the public, one has a beginning, an intention, which is to be developed, which is to undergo its development, which is to progress. Criticism of beginnings can only be properly addressed if we always remain aware that these are beginnings.

Announcement of the planned performance in Zurich, October 18, 1918

On October 18, 1918, a performance of the Eurythmic Art will take place at the Conservatory at 8 p.m.
It will be presented by Tatiana Kisseleff with the participation of Elisabeth Dollfuss, Annemarie Groh, Annemarie Donath and others. The poems on which the performance is based will be recited by Marie Steiner; the accompanying music is by Leopold van der Pals, Max Schuurman and Jan Stuten. The eurythmic art form is based on the intentions and indications of Rudolf Steiner. Seats: 5, 3 and 2 francs.

The first public eurythmy performance should have taken place in Zurich and was originally planned for October 1918, but was canceled by the authorities (see the documents on p. 44f.). Instead, it took place on February 24, 1919, carefully prepared by Rudolf Steiner with texts for the announcement in the newspaper and a text for the program booklet. Further public performances followed in 1919 in Winterthur, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Dresden and Bern, as well as public performances at the Goetheanum.

The art of movement known as eurythmy, which has so far only been practiced in a small circle, has its starting point in Goethe's view that all art is the revelation of hidden natural laws that would otherwise remain hidden. This idea can be combined with another, also from Goethe. In every single human organ, one finds a lawful expression of the human form as a whole. Every single limb of the human being is, so to speak, a human being in miniature, just as – in Goethean terms – a plant leaf is a plant in miniature. One can turn this idea around and see in the human being an overall expression of what one of his organs represents. In the larynx and the organs connected with it for speech and song, movements are carried out or even only intended through these activities, and these reveal themselves in sounds or combinations of sounds, while they themselves remain unobserved in ordinary life. It is not so much these movements themselves as the intentions of the movements that are to be realized in eurythmy through the movements of the whole body. The whole human being should make visible, in movement and posture, what imperceptibly takes place in the formation of sounds and tones in a single organ system. Through the movements of the limbs, what takes place in the larynx and neighboring organs when speaking and singing is revealed. Through movement in space and in the forms and movements of groups, what lives in sound and speech through the human soul is depicted. Thus, something is created through this eurythmic art of movement, in the creation of which the impulses that have worked in the development of all art forms have prevailed. All arbitrary mimicry or pantomime, all symbolization of the soul through movements is excluded; expression is achieved through a lawful inner connection, as in music. Eurythmy should lead back to the source of dance as an art form, from which it has, however, become far removed over time. It aims to do this in the sense of a truly modern concept of art, not by imitating or merely restoring an ancient form. It is in the nature of things that the art of eurythmy is connected to the musical. The musical accompaniments to the eurythmy performances that arise in the course of the presentation were provided by van der Pals. What is now being presented as eurythmy is a beginning; the intentions associated with this art will no doubt develop further. However, they should be seen as a start.

Program for the performance in Zurich, February 24, 1919

Dear attendees!

Allow me to say a few words about our performance. This is all the more necessary because, as I may say from the outset, this performance is not about some already completed art form, but about a will, perhaps I could even say: about the basis for a will. And in this sense, I ask you to still perceive and accept our attempt today. We certainly do not want to compete in any way with any dance art form that appears similar to ours or anything of the sort. We know very well that in all these neighboring arts, people are able to present infinitely more perfect performances than we are able to do in our specific field. But for us it is not at all a matter of giving something that already exists in some other form. It is a special form of art, brought forth through movements of the human body, through mutual movements and positions of personalities distributed in groups.

The whole meaning of our eurythmic art is based on Goethe's world view, and specifically on those parts of Goethe's world view that, when absorbed into one's artistic perception, appear to be the most profound and perhaps the most fruitful for the future of artistic development.

Although it may seem theoretical, I would like to say a few words in this regard to explain the groups depicted. It is well known that Goethe was not only active as an artist, but also had deep - unfortunately one cannot say scientific today - science-like insights into the weaving and essence of all natural processes and conditions. And one need only recall how Goethe arrived at the idea of regarding each individual plant organ as a transformation of the other plant organs that occur in the same being, one link of a natural being as a metamorphosis of the other link, but then again the whole plant - and so also transferred to higher organic beings, animals and humans, to see the whole being as a comprehensive metamorphosis of the individual meaningful links. That is what Goethe came to.

If we immerse ourselves in the intuition that lies in this insight into nature, it is possible to translate this insight into artistic feeling and artistic form. This has been attempted here in our eurythmic art for certain artistically designed movements of the human body itself. And this is to be achieved by first observing what Goethe observed in terms of form, and then artistically transforming it into movement.

To summarize, if I want to express what our intention is in this eurythmic art, I would like to say: the whole human being should become a metamorphosis of a single organ, an outstanding and significant organ, the larynx. Just as the human larynx expresses through speech, through sound, that which lives in the soul, so it is possible that if one intuitively grasps the forces that are active in the larynx and its neighboring organs when forming sounds, when forming tones, then one can implement these forces in the movement patterns of the whole human organism. The whole human organism can, so to speak, become a visible larynx, provided that we clearly realize that what the human larynx expresses in words, in sound, in harmony, in the of the sounds and tones, is only the disposition for certain movements within the air masses themselves, in which, after all, that which is word and tone actually comes to its sensory-physical expression.

So I would like to say: We try to express through the whole human organism that which, as a form of creation, sends the movement of the human larynx into an air mass.

Then, what resonates in sound and speech as a mood of the soul, as an inner feeling, what resonates in the artistic shaping of speech in rhythm, in rhyme, in alliteration, in assonance and so on , is to be expressed by forming groups whose individual members add rhythm, purely inner soul mood, weaving of feeling and the like to what the individual personality expresses through its movements.

We have avoided, absolutely avoided, anything that could be merely a momentary expression of what is going on in the soul. Just as our larynx does not express what is going on in the soul in some random, invented movement, but rather in the way in which there is a lawfulness in the larynx in the sequence of sounds and tones, so here in this eurythmic art there is a lawfulness in the sequence of movement. All facial expressions and forms of expression that are merely gestures should be avoided. And I would ask you to regard all facial expressions that appear today as an imperfection that still exists in our art form. We are still not as far along as we would like.

As you can see from these words, our eurythmic art still differs from other similar art forms in that the whole human body is in motion, not just the legs. I would like to say: here, to an outstanding degree, it is not the legs that are used to unfold a dance-like art of movement, but rather the human arms are the main organs for this art of movement.

In this way, we are attempting to demonstrate in our eurythmic art, in a very specific area, the impulse that lies in the Goethean worldview. Anyone who wishes to judge us fairly today must accept what we have to offer as only a very first beginning, which, as a beginning, can only be imperfect. However, they must also bear in mind that our habits of artistic reception are opposed to what actually works as the most essential in our eurythmic art. Here nothing is a momentary expression, but everything is subject to an inner lawfulness, which is based on an intuitive study of the movement possibilities of the human organism, just as in music itself the succession of tones is subject to a lawfulness, just as in speaking, in making verse, the succession of sounds and words is subject to a very specific lawfulness, so that nothing can arise from momentary arbitrariness in this eurythmic art, but when two people, who are perhaps very different in their individuality, present something in eurythmic art, or when two different groups present something, then the diversity can only go as far as the diversity of interpretation between different piano players playing one and the same Beethoven sonata. It is therefore important that everything subjective, everything arbitrary, be excluded from our eurythmic art.

In allowing myself to say a few words in advance, I ask you to recognize that you are well aware that this is just the beginning, a very modest beginning in our eurythmic art, which we believe is capable of further perfection. And so we ask you to take what we can present with all the forbearance possible in such matters. If you treat us in this way, we hope that after this first attempt our strength will grow and that we – or perhaps others – will one day be able to achieve something better in this field of art forms than we already can.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen.

The art of eurythmy, a sample of which we would like to present to you this evening, is something that is still in its infancy. Therefore, I ask you to be indulgent in your reception of today's attempt. It is a matter of developing an art movement that seeks to make use of the means of movement of the human organism itself. And it is about continuing this art movement in such a way that it is in line with a worldview and artistic attitude that can be traced back to Goethe's worldview and artistic attitude. It is not meant to be said that something similar to what Goethe himself gave to the world up to the year 1832, but it is about thinking of Goetheanism in a much broader sense. It is a matter of understanding that Goetheanism is the revelation of a certain artistic and ideological direction that has, so to speak, an eternal value. So that one can speak of a conception of Goethe that nevertheless goes back to Goethe's own individuality, but which is definitely from 1919.

If I would like to address a few words to you for the very reason that we are dealing with a first attempt, it is truly not to give a theoretical explanation, to interpret this attempt in terms of art history, but to point to the actual source of this eurythmic art. For it is self-evident that everything artistic must immediately prove itself to the senses. Art that had to prove its right to exist through theoretical explanation would not be art at all.

But that is not the point. The point is that, in the Goethean sense, art has been brought forth today from the deep secrets of the existence of nature and the world itself, and that Goethe considers art and knowledge to be closely related. In one of his most significant sayings about art, he says so beautifully that style is based on a kind of recognition, on becoming aware of the deeper secrets of life and things, insofar as we are able to grasp them in visible, tangible forms, and that Nature begins to reveal its apparent secret, he feels the deepest longing for its interpreter in art, he points out that one should penetrate into the secrets of the world through art, which is also the point of knowledge. But knowledge seeks to give here that which rests below in things, up to the concept, up to the idea. Wherever something is worked up to the point of being conceptualized, conceptualized, there is nothing that we could call art.

Now, in the spirit of Goethe's worldview, we want to bring out what can be sensed as the essence of the human being; we want to work out the inner possibilities of movement of the human organism and bring them to direct perception. I may illustrate the principle whereby this comes about by pointing out the significance of Goethe's theory of metamorphosis, that part of Goethe's world view that will certainly continue to play a major role in the spiritual development of humanity. For Goethe, the whole plant in its complexity is only a transformation of a simple plant leaf, and in turn, for Goethe, a plant leaf is an entire plant, only more simply formed. And every single organ of an organism is a transformation of some other organ that looks quite different to the senses. You just have to look at things very clearly to recognize the metamorphic character of organisms.

What Goethe applied to the form of living things should be applied to human movement and transformed into a true artistic vision.

When we listen to a person speaking, we do not pay attention to what is happening at the same time as the person is speaking: the movement of the larynx and its neighboring organs. But these movements of the larynx can only be seen with supersensible vision. Through the movement of the speech organs, the audible word enters the air and is represented by them.

These possibilities of movement of the larynx can be transferred to the whole human being by going back to what is inherent in his limbs, by bringing to sensory perception what the larynx invisibly performs. In this way, a visible language comes into being that is brought to view through the whole human being. When the whole human being becomes a larynx through the same thing that lives as rhythm, rhyme, warmth of soul, and tact in poetic language, then a real art comes into being that becomes a vessel for expressing what is mysteriously hidden in the whole human being. That is what we want. What is otherwise suppressed in the human being – must be suppressed because, when speaking, more of the imaginative enters into our word connections – that which is actually suppressed by the will, should be made manifest through the eurythmic art.

So one can also say that this eurythmic art cannot be compared with any neighboring arts. It does not want to compete with other neighboring arts either. It is not a matter of an arbitrary, momentary attunement of a gesture or the like with the content of the soul, but of a very definite lawfulness that lives in the successive movements just as a lawfulness lives in the successive tones of music. The eurythmic art is modeled on this musical art, only it moves in a different realm. The lawfulness of this art is parallel to that of music. If, for example, two different groups in different places were to present a particular piece of eurythmic art today, there would be as little difference in the presentation as there is between a piece of music played by two artists.

Eurythmic art should be a language or music that has become visible through the whole human being. The development of this art is not yet so far advanced that we can present eurythmic art in its own right to a larger audience. We still use recitation to present eurythmy art, but we are trying to go further than modern recitation art does today. Recitation art has reached a certain decadence today. Today, the recitation particularly emphasizes what is not actually artistic in the poetic language, and recites poetry like prose, while the actual musicality of the artistic language is suppressed. It would not be possible to present eurythmic art in parallel with this modern way of reciting. We must go back to that art of recitation which did not primarily consider the content of the words in the artistic language, but which above all tried to express the musicality of the poetic language. The justification for such an art of recitation could easily be demonstrated from the development of the arts themselves. One need only consider the way in which the work of great poets of the relatively recent past was presented, for example Goethe, who, with the baton in his hand, not only rehearsed the most beautiful of his lyrical poems but also rehearsed his Iphigenia with the baton.

In this way eurythmy will also become a signpost for other arts, pointing the way to and leading back to the essential nature of the arts.

If you should see some mimicry even today, consider it an imperfection. This imperfection will gradually disappear. We ourselves are the strictest critics in this. As I said, today's performance is only an experiment. From this point of view, I would like to ask you to watch the performance. We are also convinced that this experiment is only a beginning, but that, if our experiment meets with some interest, it should be continued by us or others. And we are also convinced that eurythmy, once it has reached a certain level of perfection, will be able to present itself as a fully-fledged art alongside other fully-fledged contemporary arts.

After a short break, we will attempt to perform a small scene from Goethe's “Faust”, part two, with the help of the eurythmic art. This attempt to perform such scenes from the second part of “Faust” with the help of the eurythmic art is, so to speak, an experiment for this art. For anyone who has seen the whole range of attempts to bring the second part of Goethe's “Faust” to the stage knows how extraordinarily difficult it is to really present this most mature expression of Goethe's art and world view in such a way that, through the artistic means of representation, everything that is in the poetry according to Goethe's own expression comes out in reality. If, for example, one takes Wilbrandt's extraordinarily charming production or refers to Devrient's performance, it becomes clear how extraordinarily difficult it is to do justice to this great work of poetry in an artistic performance. This has led to a failure to recognize what lies in Goethe's development, and it has led – and even people as sensitive as the Swabian poet [Friedrich] Theodor Vischer went so far as to say – to finding Goethe's youthful art, that is, the first part of Faust, but could not follow him to what Goethe himself had secretly included as his most mature work in the second part of Faust. And as people are: what they cannot find, they attribute not to a deficiency in themselves, but to a deficiency in the work of art or in the artist. Goethe himself had to recognize something similar during his lifetime, when he had to see how people went along with their understanding until the time when Goethe experienced a rebirth of his poetic being through his Italian journey. And he felt a certain annoyance at the fact that his youthful works were preferred at the expense of his more mature works.

So, in order to do justice to Goethe's mature art, we have tried to present those scenes, or parts of scenes in the second part of 'Faust', in which Goethe rises to represent that which cannot be represented by ordinary everyday means, which does not live in the ordinary world of the senses but plays into life, through the art of eurythmy. Where such magnificent tragedy is expressed, it shows that one can achieve many things that would otherwise be impossible. And perhaps it also makes clear how the means of eurythmic art can be used where the means of expression popular today fail.