The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1923–1925

GA 277d — 6 October 1924, Hanover

Eurythmy Performance

From a letter from Rudolf Steiner to Marie Steiner, Dornach, October 8, 1924

I am sending you the Christmas verse; I will now undertake Steffen and see if I can make something out of one or the other of your suggestions.

From a letter from Rudolf Steiner to Marie Steiner, Dornach, October 9, 1924

My dear Maus,

So far, I have only managed to put two of the suggested Steffen numbers into form; but I will continue to try — there are difficulties with the others: if you do them solo or with few people, you need to invent a lot of forms; and if you use a lot of people from the outset, that is of little use to you with a travel program.

I am also enclosing with this shipment what I forgot yesterday for the Christmas saying: clothing and lighting.

However, I really cannot add much poetry to all this now, because I have just had to take another dose of castor oil; the most disgusting thing to smell and certainly the most unpoetic.

But all the forms were created before the oil.

One yesterday evening; the other this morning. [...]

Wegman sends her warmest regards; she says: You won't believe that I'm still really ill when I continue to make molds like this. But of course she is happy that I am making them and is doing everything she can to enable me to do so.

From a letter from Marie Steiner to Rudolf Steiner, Barmen, October 9, 1924

Hanover went well. There was so much applause that one corner of the audience became irritated. One doesn't really know whether they are devotees or opponents. At the internal performance, it was the daughter of the former Reich Chancellor Michaelis who, out of devotion, did not want to applaud. At the public performance, von der Decken said that six “coffee house aesthetes” had discussed among themselves to “tip the scales.” He then sat down behind their chairs with several friends; in the end, they became tame. This is what gives the Eurythmic tours in Germany their somewhat unnerving tension. Every time, one has to expect that an attempt will be made to upset the apple cart. There are always signs of opposition stirring.

Here we now have a hall that is modern and elegant, but of course not as pleasant and effective as a theater. The Wittensteins have made every effort to arrange everything accordingly. I live here with them and several others.

The program is quite effective, but the tone eurythmy predominates. I couldn't do it any other way; in order to keep the interest high until the end and avoid any costume changes, it had to be structured as follows: Larghetto (Handel), Seele fremd. - Fahrt bei Nacht. - Davidsbündler. - Vernichtung oder Verjüngung - Pugnani. Etude Chopin. Herbst, Steffen. Allegro, Tartini. Then: Romance, Brahms. Gärtner, Mörike. Schön Rotraut. — Intermezzo, Brahms. Gavotte, Bach. Allegretto, Beethoven. “Das Huhn.” Fasching, Schumann and humorous rondo. We will now perform this on tour until Berlin, and also afterwards. In Berlin, the second performance will be “Johannisnachtstraum.” I am no longer counting on Donath; I can no longer dismiss the others, and she would no longer find anything satisfactory. But I will ask Stuten to come to Berlin with his music, if we are still left in peace by then. Savitch is an interesting Oberon. In any case, the most interesting among our forces. Do you find her length disturbing? She can be very concise when she wants to be.

Now that we are rehearsing the newly added scenes, there is a need to go further and also to create the quarrel scene between Oberon and Titania in eurythmy. With another Oberon, I would not even have dared to think about it, because it would have remained colorless. With Savitch, it is possible to think about it. What do you think?

Our ladies are happiest when they are allowed to lay the “foundation stone.” And the religious people were delighted about it. They had just come from their consecration ceremony with communion and felt it was the right continuation. In Berlin, it is to happen twice.