# The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1918–1920

## GA 277b — 14 March 1919, Dornach

### 7. Eurythmy Performance

Dear Sirs and Madams, Allow me to say a few words before our eurythmy performance. This will seem all the more justified in that what we would like to present is not just something that is already complete in itself today, but a will - perhaps I could also say: the intention of a will - in a very specific form of movement art. It is obvious that what we are attempting here in an artistic way through movements of the human body, through positions and movements of groups of and towards each other, can be compared with all kinds of neighboring arts, dance and similar arts today. We do not want to compete with such neighboring arts in any way, and it would be a misunderstanding to think that we do. We are well aware that excellent work is being done in this field today, work that is complete in itself, while we are just starting out, making our first attempts. Admittedly, it is a first attempt in a field that has yet to be created, and which therefore cannot be compared with these neighboring fields in reality.

What we are attempting here can be characterized in a few brief strokes as follows. We are creating a eurythmic art, and everything that is to be striven for and accomplished through this Goetheanum is rooted in the currents of Goethe's conception of the world and of art.

The aim is to develop in a particular field that which, in essence, was Goethe's view of art in all fields. This Goethean view of art, in turn, arose from Goethe's comprehensive view of nature. For Goethe, there was an intimate connection between everything that can be artistically represented and the higher truth of nature.

Therefore, one is repeatedly captivated by the impulse that permeates Goethe's entire world view, which is expressed, for example, in Goethe's words: “When nature begins to reveal its secret to someone, that person has an immediate need for its most worthy interpreter, art.” And this emerged from Goethe's powerful, great view of nature, which I would like to characterize here, of course, only with a few strokes.

If you read Goethe's wonderful essay on “The Metamorphosis of Plants”, you will be given Goethe's idea that metamorphosis prevails in all living things. Goethe sees in the colored petal only a transformation of the green leaf; and even in those organs - [for example] in the flower - that do not resemble the green leaf at all in their external form, he sees transformed leaves.

Of course, abstract natural science can confirm some of what Goethe said in 1790 about “The Metamorphosis of Plants” based on intuition, and disprove some of it. But for him, this arose from a different great idea: the rule of metamorphosis, of transformation, in all living things, right up to the human being. For Goethe, every single part of a living organ was somehow the whole organism, and in turn the whole organism was the effect of what essentially lived in the individual organ. Every leaf was a whole plant, is a whole plant for Goethe.

And today, when so many decades have passed since Goethe's time, we can develop this further, applying the Goethean worldview not only to the finished form but also to the activity of the organism. A partial activity of the organism represents what the whole organism basically does. And in turn, the whole organism is predisposed to be able to express that which is expressed in a partial activity, in the activity of a single organ. This can now be tried out on the human larynx, on the organ of speech and song, with the neighboring organs. We can recognize through intuition the mysterious movement patterns hidden in the human larynx by paying attention to what the larynx produces.

When we hear spoken language, we hear the connection between sounds, the musical aspect; we are not attentive to the mysterious movement patterns that the larynx carries out and which are then transferred into the movements of the air. But what a partial organ performs in terms of movement can really be extended by intuiting it, not by narrowing Goethe's view of nature in the abstract, not by developing it scientifically, but by feeling it artistically, what is predisposed in the larynx can be extended in such a way that it becomes movement of the whole human being. And that is what our eurythmy strives for: the whole human being should visibly express through his movements what is otherwise present in the larynx in the way of movement tendencies.

And with that, the basis seems to have been created for a movement art that can be felt and understood in the same way as what comes to light in sound and tone when speaking, when speaking in an artistically shaped way, in rhyme, in verse, when speaking in a musically shaped way, when singing.

But what a person speaks, what a poet works with, is imbued with human feeling, with the mood of the soul. In a certain way, the whole soul lives in it. What glows through as warmth of feeling, illuminates as mood of the soul what is spoken and sung, and we are now trying to express this in the mutual positions and movements of our groups, so that what is to be seen on stage is language that has become visible.

Of course, some may object to the idea of making language visible; but anyone who is able to truly comprehend the innermost essence of all natural and artistic activity has a sense that what has been developed in a certain area by nature itself can now be artistically utilized in all its aspects. And so in our eurythmy we try to create something that can be compared to the musical itself through inner conformity to law.

While neighboring arts try to express what lives subjectively in the human being through the momentary gesture, through the momentary pantomime, through facial expressions, there is nothing subjective or arbitrary in our eurythmy. We do not strive for what is currently living in the soul and needs to be expressed, but for the inner connection — as in the artful poetry of language itself, as in the musical melody and harmony — that is what we strive for. So that nothing depends on the subjectivity of what is to be presented, as when two different pianists present a Beethoven sonata in their interpretation.

Our eurythmy is an objective art; it is not a momentarily subjective creation, and thus frees itself completely from human arbitrariness. That is the essential thing. And if you should still perceive pantomime, facial expressions, gestures, that seemingly only express the soul symbolically, in some details today, then that is merely an imperfection. We have not yet achieved everything we want to achieve. The aim is an inner lawfulness that is independent of any human arbitrariness, as is the case in the musical work of art itself.

Nevertheless, everything should also be felt directly. Just as little as one needs to be a trained composer or to know musical theory in order to feel the music, one should also be able to feel in an elementary way what is expressed here in the harmonies and melodies of movement, without having first, I would say, the scholastic basis that the practitioner must know. But in this way – and I believe in the Goethean sense – a true art form is created. The whole person shows what inner possibilities of movement are present in him.

Now, Goethe is of the opinion that every artistic style is based on the foundations of knowledge, on the essence of things, insofar as it is allowed to us to present it in a tangible and visible way. And it is precisely when art elevates itself to the human being that Goethe sees the artistic perfection. He says that the human being is placed at the summit of nature and thus feels like a whole of nature, which in turn strives to bring forth a summit, in that the human being invokes choice, order, harmony and meaning within himself and thus elevates himself to the production of the work of art.

We do not, of course, believe that we can create some kind of total work of art, which would be a complete expression of what lies in the human being, with eurythmy. But we believe that we have made a start with something that can take its place alongside the other arts as a new art form.

And so I would ask you, esteemed attendees, to be mindful of the fact that we ourselves know exactly how imperfect and initial this is. But on the other hand, we are also convinced that the beginning is being made with something that is capable of further perfection. And we will be grateful if you turn your attention to this beginning. For a prologue, which can be found in Shakespeare's works, I would like to say, with a little reworking: If you turn your attention to this beginning, it will be a source of inspiration for those working in this art form to develop it further.

Because they are convinced that either we ourselves will be able to bring what is only imperfect today to a somewhat greater perfection, or others will further develop this art form. We are convinced that it contains fruitful seeds for development. And what still leaves something to be desired is, in our opinion, only due to the fact that we have only been able to create a beginning so far.