The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1920–1922

GA 277c — 6 February 1921, Dornach

22. Address on Eurythmy

Program of the performance in Dornach, February 6, 1921

From the “Chymischen Hochzeit” by Valentin Andreae with music by Max Schuurman
Saying from the Calendar of the Soul (44.) by Rudolf Steiner
Saying from the Calendar of the Soul (45.) by Rudolf Steiner
Saying from the soul calendar (46.) by Rudolf Steiner
“Little bird“ by Edward Grieg
“Question - Answer” with a musical prelude by Max Schuurman
“Where does evil come from?“ from: The test of the soul by R. Steiner
“Elf music I” by Jan Stuten
“Elfe“ Joseph von Eichendorff
“Elfenmusik II”
“Abendgefühle“ by Friedrich Hebbel
“Elfenmusik III”
“Mein Kind“ by Heinrich Heine
“Urtrieb VII” by Fercher von Steinwand
“Urtrieb VIII” by Fercher von Steinwand
Humoresques by Christian Morgenstern: “The Corf Clock”; “Palmström's Clock”; “The Water Donkey”; “The Mouse Trap” Address on Eurythmy, Dornach, February 6, 1921

Dear attendees!

Allow me to say a few words about our eurythmy performance. Artistic work must speak for itself, and it is not explained. The performance will speak for itself. But here in our eurythmy we are dealing with the attempt to achieve something from unusual artistic sources and with unusual art forms. And therefore a few words may be said about these art sources and this particular artistic language of forms.

You will see the moving human being as a human being, the movements of the individual limbs of the individual human being; you will see forms being performed by individuals and groups of people in space. All this is to be understood as a language that is to function in movement as a visible language. This visible language is constructed according to exactly the same principle as the spoken language.

Perhaps I may draw attention to Goethe's theory of metamorphosis, which even today has not been sufficiently appreciated in terms of the insights it can provide for man for an understanding of nature and life. For everything that emanates from the Goetheanum is, after all, based on what Goethe had already presented in The Elements, in both his view of nature and his view of art. Now, Goethe is of the opinion that every single organ or group of organs in a living being can be understood by looking at it as a more primitively formed individual, but still representing the whole in the idea: a single plant leaf is, in idea, a whole plant, only more primitively, simply formed. The whole plant is in turn only a precious [more complicated?] simpler leaf. Goethe tried to explain this on the basis of the forms of the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and also the human kingdom.

But it can also be said, by further expanding the mode of explanation, let us say, of the activity of the organism. And then one can raise it to the artistic level, and one gets, in a certain way, what we call the eurythmic art. One can, to use this Goethean expression, namely, state through sensual-supersensible observation, as a preliminary stage, which movement tendencies are inherent in the larynx and the other speech organs when one prepares to speak or when one speaks. These are not exactly the movements that are transmitted to the air for hearing, but rather they are the tendencies of movement. Only through sensory-supersensory observation can one study this for the individual sound, for word formation, for sentence formation. Then one can transfer it. Just as what the individual leaf offers for observation relates organically to the whole plant and extends to it, so, according to the Goethean principle, what takes place in the larynx and its neighboring organs can be extended to the whole human being, so that this visible eurythmic language arises. So, in a sense, you see the moving larynx in front of you in the individual person and in groups of people.

It is usually misunderstood that one is dealing with a real, visible language. It has often been said by people who have seen such a eurythmy performance that what should be emphasized is not emphasized, namely a certain physiognomic expression in the face, a play of expression and the like. Well, to a certain extent that may be correct; but it is not correct in the extent to which it is demanded. For it is not a matter of some kind of mimic performance or pantomime, nor is it a matter of ordinary dance and the like, but rather of a language that has been specially developed through study. And just as one cannot accompany ordinary spoken language with gestures, so one cannot accompany the visible language of eurythmy with any old gestures or with a facial expression borrowed from the moment. Rather, what is presented here as eurythmy cannot be reduced to anything mimic or pantomime, but the lawfulness only comes to expression when one contemplates the organic, or I might say, melodic succession of the movement.

My dear audience, it is also the case with spoken language that we are dealing with sounds that do not mean something clearly and directly. For then one would not be able to form something artistic out of spoken language in the poetic arts. Therefore, what is pantomimed or mimicked or the like is never really artistic. Rather, just as the artistic element in poetry is based on the fact that phonetic language leaves something behind when one takes its mere meaning, so eurythmy is based on the fact that it is by no means the case that a hand movement or the like means what a hand movement presents when one uses hand movements or the like to help with something that is spoken. Rather, through the inner laws of the human organism, something is brought forth from this organism that expresses the inner soul life through this movement in exactly the same way as the inner soul life is expressed in spoken language.

And so we can shape eurythmy artistically, which is by no means a random gesture, but something that wells up out of the human organism with such regularity when the organism experiences something, just as speech wells out of it. Just as speech is something that comes out of the human organism, so the art of the eurythmic gesture is one that, although the gestures are unequivocally connected with the sound and so on , but which are not thought up at all, and cannot be invented as such for any poem or piece of music, but which so regularly reflect what lies in a poem or piece of music, just as spoken language itself does.

You will then find, on the one hand accompanied by music and on the other by corresponding poetry, what is presented in eurythmy itself, on the stage in the visible language of eurythmy. Precisely that which is expressed in a different form in music or in poetry is revealed in a special way through eurythmy, so that it can be seen. And what is suppressed is more that which is the life of thought, the inner life in speaking, and more consideration is given to the will element that is rooted in the whole human being, which emerges from deep foundations of the human soul. This is precisely what comes out of the movement. Just as speech sounds are, so too are the gestures of eurythmy, which are not thought up at all, nor can they be invented as such for a poem or a piece of music, but which regularly reflect what lies in a poem or a piece of music, just as speech sounds themselves do.

You can also see how language works in eurythmy when recitation or declamation accompanies the eurythmic, as you are experiencing here, [by seeing] how one cannot recite as is often the case today in an unartistic age, where the main emphasis is placed on the prose content of the poem, but which is by no means the main emphasis. Rather, in every truly artistic piece of writing, it is the rhythm, the beat, the melody that is the main thing. One could say – somewhat presumptuously – that there is only as much art in a piece of writing, even if it could have a completely different literal content, as there is in the beat, rhythm, and melodious weaving. This is not felt today, when it is thought that this or that must be emphasized from the prose content and other things should be left out. This is actually an unartistic recitation. Artistic recitation begins only where the musical form, the sound, is grasped. And so one would not be able to accompany eurythmy with recitation in the sense of today's unartistic recitation.

On the whole, it can be said that what is presented in the visible language of eurythmy actually happens in a much less conventional sense. This is because in our civilized life, the linguistic element has acquired a conventional or even a mental coating. However, these two are a thoroughly inartistic element, especially in the civilized languages.

Then I would like to say a few words about the fact that, in addition to the artistic element, this eurythmy also has a thoroughly hygienic-therapeutic side. These are also movements that can be drawn from the organism itself and that also have a healing effect for the child. This hygienic-therapeutic direction is not developed in the same way as in art, but it is developed in a different way.

And above all, there is a third side, the pedagogical-didactic. We have introduced eurythmy as an objective [compulsory?] subject in the Waldorf School in Stuttgart. Although we have only been able to observe these effects for five quarters of a year or a year and a half, it is already quite clear that the children empathize with and immerse themselves in this eurythmy with great naturalness. For the children sense this soul-inspired movement – which is eurythmy, as well as being an art form – as something that arises directly from the organism. They find their way into it, and what develops is what one might call an initiative of the soul life. This cannot develop at all through ordinary gymnastics.

It must be said – although I am not sure whether many people today would still find it almost offensive if one thought about gymnastics so objectively, but I would not want to go as far as it happened to me a few weeks ago, when a very famous physiologist of the present day, who had seen one of our who had seen one of our eurythmy performances and with whom I later spoke about gymnastics and told him that gymnastics was more for the body and eurythmy more for the whole person because it encompasses body, soul and spirit, said: gymnastics is not an art at all, but a barbarism. As I said, I did not make this statement up. I only mention it because we still face so much hostility towards our eurythmy. But perhaps people will soon think more objectively about these things. They will recognize what such inspired gymnastics is in the classroom and will also recognize that, especially with children (this is less relevant for adults), eurythmy works as a means to wean them of the conventional, the trite, and the untruthful. It is truly a training in truthfulness. When the child is to express this with his whole body, this visible language of eurythmy, he cannot become untruthful, cannot become formulaic, cannot incline towards lies. It is a school of truthfulness for seven-, twelve- or fourteen-year-olds when they undergo these eurythmy lessons at school.

These are the different sides of eurythmy. Today, as I always do at these events, I would like to emphasize: we are definitely only at the beginning with our eurythmy; it may only represent the attempt at a beginning. We ourselves are the strictest critics with regard to what is still missing; but we are also convinced that if you see these performances more often, as I hope you will, you will also be able to see that what was present in the germ has already grown. You may remember how we have been working precisely to create silent forms or to further develop the forms in general, especially in the last few months. If we continue to work in this direction, we will see that there is something in this eurythmy that can be developed in an incredible way, so that we may believe that for this eurythmy, even if it is no longer developed by us but by others, the moment will come when it will be recognized as a fully fledged art alongside the other sister arts. So that is what I wanted to say in a few words in advance of our eurythmic presentation.