The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1923–1925

GA 277d — 20 August 1924

To the Members! Vocal Speech Course” (“What is Happening in the Anthroposophical Society”)

From June 24 to July 12, a course on eurythmy was held at the Goetheanum. It consisted of a review of much of what had been taught in this field up to that point, as well as a deepening and broadening of what was already known. The eurythmy artists who practice eurythmy as an art at the Goetheanum and from there in many other places, the teachers in this field, the teachers at the eurythmy school founded and directed by Marie Steiner in Stuttgart, the teachers working in eurythmy at the Waldorf School and the continuing education school at the Goetheanum, therapeutic eurythmists, and a number of other personalities who, through their profession as artists or scientists in other fields, have an interest in eurythmy, took part in the course.

Eurythmy makes it possible to visualize the artistic as such in its essence and its sources. This was given special attention during the course. Only those who develop their artistic sense creatively out of inner vocation and inner enthusiasm can work as eurythmic artists. In order to reveal the possibilities of form and movement inherent in the human organism, it is necessary for the soul to be completely filled with art. This universal character of eurythmy was the basis of all the presentations.

Anyone who wants to practice eurythmy must have penetrated the essence of speech formation. Above all, they must have approached the secrets of sound creation. Every sound expresses a soul experience. Vocal sounds express the intellectual, emotional, and volitional self-revelation of the soul, while consonantal sounds express the way in which the soul objectifies an external thing or process. In ordinary speech, this expression in language remains largely unconscious; the eurythmist must learn it in a very precise way, because he or she has to transform what is audible in speech into resting and moving gestures. The inner structure of language was therefore revealed in this course. The sound meaning of the word, which underlies the meaning everywhere, was made clear. From the eurythmic gesture, many aspects of the laws of language that are currently little recognized, where speech is carried out in a highly abstract state of mind, can be brought to light. This has been done in this course. It is to be hoped that this will also have given eurythmy teachers the guidelines they need.

The eurythmist needs to devote himself to the smallest details of the gesture so that his representation truly becomes a natural expression of the soul. He can only shape the large gesture when these smallest details have first become conscious and then habitual expressions of the soul's essence.

We have considered how the gesture as such reveals soul experience and spiritual content, and also how this revelation relates to the expression of the soul, which is audibly realized in spoken language. Eurythmy allows us to appreciate the technical aspects of art, but it also allows us to deeply understand how the technical must shed all outward appearance and be completely taken over by the soul if true artistry is to live. People who are active in any field of art often speak of how the soul should work behind the technique; the truth is that the soul must be active in the technique.

In these lectures, particular emphasis was placed on showing that people with aesthetic sensibilities perceive the soul directly and unambiguously in truly formed gestures. Examples were presented that illustrated how content in the soul's state of mind can be seen in a natural way in a certain form of gesture.

It was also shown how all speech formation, which is revealed in grammar, syntax, speech rhythm, poetic tropes and figures, rhyme and stanza structure, also finds its corresponding realization in eurythmy.

The audience of this course should not only be encouraged to learn about eurythmy, but should also experience how all art must be carried by love and enthusiasm. The eurythmist cannot detach his artistic creation from himself and present it objectively to those who enjoy aesthetics, as the painter or sculptor does, but remains personally involved in his performance; one can see from him whether art lives in him as a divine world content or not. In the immediate artistic presence, the eurythmist must be able to present the artistic as a vivid being to the human being. This requires a special inner, intimate relationship with art. This course aimed to help participants understand this. It sought to show how, when viewing the gesture, the feeling, the sensation is ignited in the soul, and how this sensation then leads to the experience of the visible word. Much of what can only be imperfectly expressed in the audible word can be fully revealed through eurythmic gestures. Audible words in recitation and declamation, in connection with the visible word, then give a total expression that can bring about the most intense artistic unity.