The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

GA 277a — 30 June 1918

Address on Eurythmy

Ladies and gentlemen, today I must say a few words about the eurythmy performance. It demonstrates a fundamental tendency of our movement, showing that we do not, in any real sense, do anything simply out of some agitational idea. And so, in a sense, this eurythmy has been brought to us by karma over the years. It has been quite a number of years now since Mrs. Smits suggested that we establish something in our circles that could be related to artistic dance. Now, it goes without saying that nothing can arise within our circles that has anything to do with the art of dance in the ordinary, trivial sense; the point is that this suggestion will be carried over into the creation of a new kind of art.

And in order to understand this, we must remember that art actually arose from the primordial culture of humanity by separating itself from an institution. If we go back to the primordial cultures of humanity, we find that what developed from them was not separate at all at that time, but existed side by side, even though today they are considered to be unrelated: science, religion, and art. In the primordial culture, these three formed a unity. That is, this unity was presented to the person who sought it in the mysteries; that which is usually unmanifest, which is to be revealed through the human soul, was presented on the one hand in such a way that it spoke to the human mind. Such revelation was then the religious revelation from a primal source, from which all life and all existence also sprang. It was revealed in another way, speaking to the human being of knowledge, and it was revealed externally [in art] in such a way that it spoke to the senses, that what otherwise reveals itself only indirectly from [the] eternal was perceptible to the senses in a direct way in the light of the senses.

These three forms of revelation, united in the ancient mysteries, then split into science, religion, and art. Differentiation is what governs the development of humanity. Then, in turn, the things that found expression in science, religion, and art split into individual branches. And so, alongside the individual forms of religion and the individual sciences, the individual arts arose. It was therefore necessary to go back to this [illegible] origin of an art form if an artistic inspiration that had arisen from the [illegible] of the present—namely eurythmy—was to be realized.

This gave rise to the question: What should be moved as such art? In every form of revelation that approaches human beings, the mystery of the world already lives, revealing itself on the one hand materially and on the other spiritually. Nothing had to be invented, nothing could be invented, because it was precisely eurythmy as such, musical art as such [gap?], but it had to be found, found from human nature, [insofar as] it reflects the mysteries of the universe. This already meant that human speech expresses the mystery of the world in a very special way.

We are all familiar with the fact that the visible human body is based on the invisible body, an etheric body. /illegible] World force as gap]. This etheric body is structured in the same way as the physical body. We can therefore not only speak of a body of the etheric, from [which] [develops] the /illegible], the [illegible], but also of a member of the etheric body, from [which develops] the larynx and its various appendages that serve speech. From this member of the etheric body comes that which then expresses itself as our speech. There are very specific forms of movement underlying the activity of the etheric body while we speak. This can simply be expressed occultistically as what underlies one sound, [the] other sounds, and so on.

Now it is a mystery of human nature that what is expressed in one of the members also lies in the other members and then also in the whole human being as such. This is also the secret underlying Goethe's theory of metamorphosis. Based on this, one reveals [gap]. The movement was developed from the larynx of the etheric body and its accessory organs. It was taken and transferred to the whole human being, which Goethe [illegible] also in the [gap?], [illegible] musical language, is transferred to the whole human body. Every movement is thus performed by a eurythmist, a movement that is not invented, but is a natural movement in which the human being speaks, but transferred to the whole human being.

But instead of the etheric body performing the movement, [illegible] this movement [of the larynx] is performed by the whole human being; whereas otherwise only the larynx speaks, so that the performer of eurythmy [gap] is there. So it is not something invented, but something found. Of course, the matter is still in development, it cannot yet be held by everyone, individual sounds are being highlighted, and [illegible]; but we are still in the beginning; [eurythmy] /illegible] will be further developed /gap]. What is being developed for speech can also be developed for musical performance.

This will create the possibility [illegible] that not only will eurythmic performances be given, but that everything that is eurythmic will also be understood. One can read from the eurythmy performance what one can hear when a person speaks. That is actually a matter for the future. Well, the main thing is that it is really understood that this is an art, with [an] artistic language that transcends, that has nothing to do with what pantomime or mimicry is. Everything that is directly passionate expression, that arises from mere emotion, what we call representation, pantomime, or mimicry, [which] emanates directly from the human being, what he believes, is not what we are talking about here. Everything mimetic and pantomimic had to be excluded [in order] to give only those movements that express the secrets of the world when the human being speaks. Now we humans can characterize other things, laws. Not only does [the human being] participate by speaking or declaiming, [not only] does the movement of the etheric larynx participate, but in a broader sense the lungs and other organs also participate. These do not move in the etheric body itself, but these movements are held still, living only latently, I would say in the etheric body.

We then allow them to act, so that we have eurythmy consisting of these two parts: on the one hand, the movement performed by the inner part of the larynx, and on the other hand, the movements that are not performed, but only predisposed in actual speaking or declaiming [illegible]. The latter, which are only formed as a form within, give the inner, what [we] call feeling, sensation, which is also expressed in the rhythm of the poet's language, and this is now understood. So we have [a] poem. And so there is again the revelation that the eurythmy performer makes by moving in space. When he moves his hand or makes other movements, this is a representation of the etheric. When he moves, the [gap] becomes this form. In the group forms of this space of eurythmy, everything that pervades language as feeling or inner meaning, everything that pervades language as suffering and joy, can thus be expressed. Everything that pervades language as rhyme and rhythm can be expressed. These two structures constitute this.

At the beginning, we let eurythmy speak for itself. This is what can be called, in the most common sense, an expressionist art. When what lives within the human being is presented externally, it is expressionism. When what is perceived by people outside is presented, it is impressionist art. Now, the ideal of artistic development is actually that what has come out of a primal source should stand side by side as differentiated arts. Over time, we have found that through representation, eurythmy is an expressionist movement and declamation is impressionist – [Declamation is] impressionism – [so that] a special kind of Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) emerges, so that we now allow declamation and eurythmy to interact, and what is expressed is what we grasp. What has been lost through the modern [gap] must be brought back into declamation.

The modern method strives to omit everything that is actually poetic and artistic, and it becomes prosaic, declaimed according to the content of the thought, that which is inartistic, while [not seeking] what is in reality rhythm and rhyme in [artistic] modern declamation. This must in turn be expressed in a declamation that is modern, but in our sense, then it will become [illegible] and [illegible] that not everything is merely prosaic declamation [illegible]. You will therefore see that Dr. [Steiner] declaims differently [illegible] than is declaimed today. That is what we must [achieve] today.

When we consider eurythmy, we see that it is based on certain laws, just like music, and the life of the soul remains – we have [illegible] in music – remains free, as in music. Everyone perceives Beethoven's music differently. So one person perceives eurythmy differently than another. But there are fixed laws in the background, fixed laws as in music. /Gap] Hopefully, in the future it will also be possible to bring the art of eurythmy to the public. There are still many obstacles to overcome, namely our eurythmy performers will have to arm themselves, because they will be constantly bombarded by criticism, but that will be a necessary prerequisite for the flourishing of eurythmy, because if it were to suit the tastes of those who now criticize what eurythmy is, it would be something bad, /illegible]. We can only hope that it will be bombarded, that is to say: not everything will /gap).

This collision must also occur in this area [gap?], i.e., resistance applies /end illegible].

Program for the performance

Leis auf zarten Füßen (Quietly on tender feet) Christian Morgenstern
Unter Sternen (Under the stars) C. F. Meyer
Eins und alles (One and everything) Christian Morgenstern
Abendreihn (Evening row) W. Müller
Beim Anblick eines Katers (At the sight of a tomcat) Fercher von Steinwand
Vögel (Birds) Richard Schaukal
At the sight of a goose Fercher von Steinwand
Early spring Manfred Kyber
Thibaut von Champagne C. F. Meyer
Song souls C.F. Meyer
Encounter C. F. Meyer
O night Christian Morgenstern
The messenger's run C. F. Meyer
Light and star Rudolf Steiner
On the New Year Eduard Mörike
St. John's Mood (Soul Calendar) Rudolf Steiner