The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1920–1922

GA 277c — 5 December 1920, Dornach

16. Eurythmy Address

Program for the performance in Dornach, December 5, 1920

The Fairy Tale of the Miracle of the Springs from The Testing of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner
Saying from the Calendar of the Soul (33rd) by Rudolf Steiner
“To the Young Mineralogist” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Saying from the Calendar of the Soul (34th) by Rudolf Steiner
“Mächtiges Überraschen“ by J. W. v. Goethe
“Wiegenlied” folk song (children's group)
“Those evening bells“ by Thomas Moore
Saying from the soul calendar (34.) by Rudolf Steiner
Folk song (children's group)
“Mailied” by J. W. v. Goethe
“Vöglein“ folk song (children's group)
“Hubâ” [?]
“Ein Rätsel - ein Männlein steht im Walde” (children's group)
Humoresques by Christian Morgenstern: ‘Korfs Geruchssinn’; ‘Geruchsorgel’; ‘Der Aromat’

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen.

Allow me to say a few words to introduce the eurythmy presentation that we will be treating you to. I do not do this in order to explain the content of the performance as such, because it goes without saying that everything artistic must speak for itself; explaining an artistic performance would itself be something inartistic. Rather, I do it because what we are doing here as a eurythmic art draws in a certain way on new artistic sources and a new artistic, at least a hitherto unfamiliar artistic, formal language. And I would like to say a few words about this.

You will see, first of all, the individual on the stage moving the limbs of this physical organization in a certain way. You will also see groups of people performing coordinated, lawful movements. These artistic achievements in movement will be accompanied, on the one hand, by music and, on the other, by recitation. It is exactly what we have here as eurythmy, conceived as a real visible language. Therefore, what is called eurythmy here should not be confused with anything mimic, pantomime or even dance-like.

Our eurythmy has nothing to do with any of this. Rather, it is about creating a real visible language that comes about through movements of one's own human body. If I may use Goethe's expression, this language is studied through sensual and supersensory observation of what takes place in the human larynx and the other speech organs in terms of their structure and movement tendencies, while the human being develops speech or song. And precisely for this reason, what is represented through eurythmy approaches the musical on the one hand, and thus comes close to the purely musical, the instrumental, while on the other hand it approaches the thinking, which is expressed through poetry.

But, as I said, it is not a matter of some random gesture, of something mimed, so that a single gesture might be sought for the stirring of the soul, for the feeling. Rather, it is a matter of seeking out that what the larynx and its neighboring organs want to do when a person forms this or that sound, when they form this or that sequence of sounds, when they bring language into those laws through which it can form the basis for the poetic arts and so on. So that one does not see the essence of eurythmy in the individual gestures – it is not about gestures at all – but in the sequence of gestures, just as one has to look for the essence in the sequence of notes in music and in the sequence of sounds in speech, which is what matters.

In this way the whole human being becomes, as it were, a visible speech organ. The whole human being becomes a larynx and presents speech or song and music on the stage. And the laws of this language are derived from the same foundations as human speech. The only difference is that in the latter case, it is only the larynx and the other speech organs that make the initial movement. Then the movement is held in while this movement tendency comes into contact with the external air. What is set in motion in the larynx is transformed into an outward movement of the air, and speech is created. What is present in the larynx or in the other speech organs before speech is formed is transferred to the whole person and expressed through the whole person.

It is based on both Goethe's view of nature and art, namely Goethe's artistic attitude. Goethe founded the theory of metamorphosis, that magnificent view of the inner lawfulness and essence of living things, which is still far from being appreciated and which will most certainly continue to play a major role in the future, scientifically. If we take just one aspect of Goethe's view of nature, not to present it as a theory but for a different purpose, which will be shown in a moment, if we take just one aspect, we have to say that in the individual plant leaf Goethe sees the whole plant in its potential; in the whole plant he sees a complex leaf. So that to him, life is a combination of details that are equal to the whole in idea, but which in turn are formed according to the same principle into a unity on a large scale. What Goethe has as an insight into form in his theory of metamorphosis should meet you artistically in eurythmy.

When a person formulates speech, one aspect of their organization, the speech organs, is activated. In a sense, the entire human organization is active, localized in the human speech organs, just as Goethe saw the whole plant localized in the plant leaf from the outset, so to speak. But what can be observed through sensory-supersensory vision in the larynx can be transferred to the whole human being in the same way that one can think of the organizing force of the [whole] plant being transferred to the [single] leaf. In this way one has a real, visible language, governed by natural laws, which can then be given artistic form. Of course, as a visible language it is not artistic at first; it must be given artistic form, and then it can be used to express the same things that the poet or the composer express through their artistic forms.

If we judge what eurythmy is meant to be by its gestural expression, then we will not be able to judge it at all. We will only be able to judge it if we see the laws of movement in eurythmy in the same way that we see the melodious element in the lawful progression of tones. In this, my dear audience, the human being is taken as an instrument for artistic expression, and in this way, too, we come close to the highest sense of Goethe's artistic spirit. Goethe spoke beautifully about the relationship between the human being and the rest of the world. He said: When the human being is placed at the summit of nature, he in turn feels himself to be all of nature, taking in order, harmony, measure and meaning and rising to the creation of the work of art.

The best way for a person to create a work of art is to see themselves as an instrument that combines order, harmony, measure and meaning. This is precisely what eurythmy does, not by using an external musical instrument but by using the human being themselves, the human organization, as a tool. But, my dear audience, one comes very close to the artistic through this eurythmy, closer than through many other artistic means and formal languages. For let us take the poetic language: Especially in the civilized languages, since language is on the one hand thoroughly permeated by a moving (?) Element that actually serves only human communication. What is originally a direct poetic, artistic element in language thus passes into prose. Likewise, the linguistic element in a civilized language passes into prose through the inclusion of the thought element. Thought as such is the inartistic element, and the more form something contains, the less it contains of artistic effects.

In our languages, it is therefore difficult to produce something truly artistic without resorting to new means of expression. After all, poetry is basically only as artistic as its musicality - rhythm, meter, and so on - and its pictorial-plasticity. The literal is not the essence of poetry. That is why I must always point out that true poets, who as poets are also artistic through and through – such as Schiller, for example – did not initially place the main emphasis on the literal content of a poem , but rather he had a certain indeterminate melody in his soul, and it was from this indeterminate melody that he first shaped that to which he, so to speak, gives the literal content. And Goethe placed so little value on the literal in poetry, even in drama, and much more on the rhythmic, the metrical, the musical and pictorial, that he himself studied his Iphigenia with his actors, conducting it with a baton like a piece of music.

You can see how eurythmy, by observing it, leads back that which becomes prosaic in thought, that which, in thought, leads away from art in poetry, how that which is prosaic in thought is led back into the will element, in which the whole human being becomes a means of expression. But because everything conventional and everything conceptual is gone from the language, because the language works as a visible means of expression through the whole human being, through this, especially in poetry, it is reduced to the actual artistic basis of it.

This can be seen from the fact that, for example, when recitation is done in parallel with the eurythmic presentation, it cannot be recited in the same way as an unartistic time like the present imagines recitation. One recites according to the literal content, that is, according to the prose. Today recitation is basically only done according to the prose. The literal content is taken as the basis and then articulated and so on. But the artistic basis of poetry must also be incorporated into the recitation and declamation as rhythm and meter. Today it is not loved. Eurythmy can only be accompanied by this artistic element of recitation and declamation. In this way, eurythmy can have a healing effect on the art of recitation and declamation. Therefore, recitation must be done somewhat differently than is popular today. This is something I wanted to note about the artistic element of eurythmy.

Now eurythmy also has other meanings for the whole culture of the present. First of all, it has an element - which I do not want to discuss here because it requires too much detail - a hygienic-therapeutic element, which is also a social element, so that eurythmy can also be used in therapy and hygiene. But the third element, and this I wish to emphasize here, is the didactic-pedagogical element. We have introduced eurythmy as a compulsory subject at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart, which was founded by Emil Molt and is now under my direction. We have seen that in the one year since the school has had eurythmy, it has been able to achieve something very significant for children by including it.

What is eurythmy for the child? The child derives great joy from practising eurythmy simply because it can move in forms that are taken directly from the laws of its own physical organization. It feels at home in its element, so to speak, and feels that it can do what the body wants to do. We did not introduce eurythmy to replace gymnastics, but as a supplement to it. For the child, eurythmy is like soul-filled gymnastics. Gymnastics is - I do not want to go so far as I was recently told, even after I had spoken such words before a eurythmy performance, a famous contemporary physiologist who was here. He told me that from his physiological point of view, he saw no educational value at all in gymnastics, only barbarism. But I just want to say that gymnastics trains the physical side of the human being. This soul-filled gymnastics, eurythmy, trains the whole human being in body, soul and spirit. And so children benefit from it greatly, especially in terms of what is most urgently needed at the present time: we must have more inner willpower, more soul initiative, in the next generation than we have at the present time. And eurythmy, when introduced to the child at the right age and in the right pedagogical and didactic way, has an effect on the development of the soul and the will.

Furthermore, when children from the age of seven, eight, nine, when they have not yet reached sexual maturity – later this is no longer an issue, but at this time it is very much an issue – when children perform this, they have to devote themselves entirely to the expression with their whole organization, then it has an effect in the sense of truthfulness. And in our time – when language itself becomes a temptation to use empty phrases due to the conventionalization of our words and thus a temptation to untruthfulness – it must have a beneficial effect pedagogically when we eurythmy has something that draws us directly to truthfulness, because you cannot learn a lie or learn a phrase if you have to work with the whole human being as a tool for language.

And much more could be said. I just wanted to point in the direction of how eurythmy can become significant as a pedagogical-didactic tool. But all this, ladies and gentlemen, is in its infancy. Those who have been here often will see how we have tried to progress in the last few months. We have now also found forms for what was there before, which emphasized the means of expression, so that we can either introduce the poetry or let it fade away in forms that are intended to work without musical or declamatory accompaniment. This way, we can show how this art of movement is a real visible language that can also speak for itself. In general, we have made progress in terms of shaping the successive formations in recent times.

We will try to continue to make progress. But nevertheless, it must always be taken into account in such a performance that the audience is asked to be forgiving. We ourselves are our own harshest critics and know that we have not yet come very far. But we also know that this eurythmic art carries something within it that can be further developed, perhaps to some extent still by us, but probably by others. And then what is now present in the germ can be further developed. And all those who see through the nature of the eurythmic art are convinced that eurythmy will be able to position itself as a worthy younger art alongside its worthy older sister arts.