# The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

## GA 277a — 26 August 1915, Dornach

### The Apollonian Course X

*The color gestures given in this lesson were supplemented on the last day of the course, September 11, 1915, with some information that is included in this lesson for reasons of thematic coherence. Rudolf Steiner's drawings of the color gestures (NZ 5913/14) in Marie Steiner's notebook 138 were probably not created in the context of the 1915 lessons, but somewhat later, presumably in 1916/17.*

*The minor scale in C sharp minor given on this day (with the same third tone E as in the major scale in C major) was recorded by Tatiana Kisselejf in her notebook, but later overwritten by her; it is reconstructed here in its original version by eliminating the text written over it. This drawing can also be found in Johanna Mücke's notebook, which is an early copy of Tatiana's notebook.*

**Light and dark as mood and emotional content of the lute**

*Example of a light poem*

> *Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Early Spring” (excerpt)*
> Bluish freshness!  
> Sky and heights!  
> Golden fish  
> Swarm in the lake.
> Colorful plumage  
> Rustles in the grove;  
> Heavenly songs Resound within.

*Example of a dark poem*

> *Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “The Longing One”  
> (from: “Various Feelings in One Place”)*
> Here I lament in secret  
> To the thawing morning  
> My lonely fate.  
> Misunderstood by the crowd  
> How I retreat  
> Quietly into seclusion!  
> O tender soul  
> O, be silent, conceal  
> The eternal suffering,  
> Hide your happiness!

Now one must try to make certain differences in light and color in the forms and movements.

One can now also distinguish between light and dark in the mood. Today, this is understood to mean only a difference in light—but it is an ancient difference. Light (clairvoyance) can be traced back to certain sensations that the creative hierarchies had in the pre-worldly (pre-earthly) stage. Sensations that have remained. Thus, on Jupiter, all the joy of today will be light and brightness; the sadness and pain of today will be darkness and gloom.

I seem to remember that he formulated it quite precisely: Our light today goes back to feelings of joy experienced by spiritual hierarchies during past planetary states, just as our joy today will become light on Jupiter.

In general, the following applies:

Bright is every stretch  
Dark is every contraction.

One must strive to feel the brightness of the poem or the darkness.

After that, you can adjust the nuances of feeling, the content of feeling of the various sounds and words. Every stretching is bright. The i sounds bright, is bright. Poems with a lot of i would be perceived as bright poems. “Flotte Bursche” by Fercher von Steinwand, “Wiegenlied” by Brentano - bright poems. In a bright poem, use stretching as much as possible.

This is where the distinctions intersect.

Poems with a lot of o and #, on the other hand, would be perceived as dark.

“Düstere Bursche” by Fercher von Steinwand, a dark poem. The o is a dark sound; o can be darkened and lightened.


The more open the o, the brighter it is; the more closed, the darker. You can open the o until it transitions into an a. Transitioning into an a, it becomes bright. A stretched a is also perceived as bright.


*Later sound assignments*

> Light: i / a / u / ü / ä / e / into darkness and back into light.  
> (In-between): eu / ei  
> Dark: o / au / äu / ö / e / into the light

**Moods of life in colors**

> yellow / red = opening up in stretching  
> blue / violet = stretching inward  
> green = in the middle.


> light, violet, blue, green, yellow, red  
> light, violet, blue, indigo (?green) yellow, red  
> light, red, yellow, blue, violet  
> light yellow, reddish


> black / violet / indigo / blue / white / green / yellow / orange / red. //  
> white / rose red / peach blossom / light violet / violet / black / indigo / blue / green / yellow / orange / vermilion  
> from the shaft / at night / [from here on in Marie Steiner's handwriting] perceived activity / (passive)


> Purple, red, orange, yellow, green

Dr. St.: “The color nuances refer to the relationship between the fingers and the hand, between the back of the hand and the fingers.” For example: green = hand + fingers stretched out; yellow = back of the hand slightly backward, fingers remain; orange = back of hand remains, fingers further back; pink = back of hand further back, fingers remain, etc.

Back in 1915, the specification was that green was in the middle, where white is now [...] and from the hand position (green) we had to move our hands up and down and spread our fingers. That's how it's been done all these years.

Green is in the middle, between blue and yellow. White: move the position of green up and down – and quickly stretch your fingers out next to each other.

When you clench your hand completely, it gives the impression of black.

The shy: blue-violet. The angry, courageous: reddish-yellow, red-orange. The Wagnerian-pedantic: green, greenish. Also to be expressed in movement (Basel: yellow; Zurich: green).

You can also express verses emotionally through color nuances. Always internalize them.

Moods of life: Red: something that is aggressive towards us, something that attacks us almost more strongly, something we want to avoid. Blue: something that leaves us, something we look back on with melancholy, with longing. Courageous, strong – in red. Longing – in blue-violet.

*Records with different sequences of colors: yellow, red, green.*

Open and close your palm — color nuances. When I open my outstretched arm outward, the color nuances go from very light to yellow, red, and green. When I close my outstretched arm inward, the shades go from blue to violet to black.

A bright sound. The o is open: indigo; closed, it is black. A blue : is an a, so ia becomes cs, a bluish-colored brightness.


> black / violet / blue / light / inside // outside / yellow / red / green ?


In stretching open: yellow, red, green / red / i/ in stretching / closing / blue + violett

These differences can now also be studied in the different languages. Me, the Russian 4 (bluish), the [French] “Moi.”

The red rose: back of the hand facing outwards. The blue violet: palms facing inwards.


> a/ ia / ai from the viewer's perspective


> the red rose / the / blue / violet

*Minor scale*


> c = cis = / d the half notes polar / opposite of the fundamental tone / in the direction. The leaps forward (painful) / The movement goes inward.  
> One can express the difference between the elevations and depressions by expressing this through nuance, according to which the middle is worked in one direction or the other.


> Minor / C sharp / D sharp / F sharp / G sharp / A sharp / B sharp

> C C sharp — half notes — polar opposite of the major scale

These forms apply to all minor keys. They express pain. The hands are stretched forward. The leap happens forward. All movements inward = painful. The melodic minor key is perceived as soft, the harmonic as hard as icicles.


Prime Quint / Second Sixth / Third / Fourth (slightly forward!) Seventh / Octave