# Preface to the Sheet Music Book “Auftakte”

*for eurythmic performances for pianoforte for two hands, composed by Leopold van der Pals, Berlin 1918*

Mr. van der Pals conceived the musical “preludes”, which are presented in the following pages, as accompaniments to a particular type of eurythmic performance. This type of eurythmy is initially cultivated within a closed circle, but it is expanding. It originated from the fact that several years ago a lady (Mrs. Smits) asked me whether a more serious form of dance art could be realized. Something developed from the kindness of this request, which, however, has little to do with what one is accustomed to calling “dance art”. What the aforementioned circle practices as eurythmy can perhaps be characterized in the following way. In human speech, the larynx and its neighboring organs are in motion, which can be grasped through intuitive knowledge. Those who have truly penetrated Goethe's metamorphic view can attempt to transfer it from the realm of forms to that of the organism's movements. According to this view, an organ or organ context is the result of the transformation of another organ or organ context. But an entire organism can also be thought of as the metamorphosis of one of its members. Extended to the movements of the human organism, this view results in such movements that embody a spoken or musical thought through the whole human being, just as word and tone are artistically embodied through the larynx and its neighboring organs. When such a eurythmy is practised, one is dealing with an art of movement in the human organism that leaves aside all pantomime, all mere gestures and movements, and replaces them with a natural context that has been elevated to an artistic one. Through this art of movement, the whole human being accomplishes what, in the natural order, the larynx and the organs that unite with it to form words and sounds accomplish. Anyone who takes Ernst's view of Goethe, as expressed in the sentence, “Style is based on the deepest foundations of knowledge, on the essence of things, insofar as we are allowed to recognize it in visible and tangible forms,” will come to the possibility of seeking art in this way. When attempting to realize a very limited field of art, one should certainly not refer directly to a comprehensive idea for its characterization; but one may perhaps point out that the feelings that guide such an attempt are in line with those that Goethe asserted for artistic creation. Goethe saw art as a continuation of nature, “for in that man is placed at the summit of nature, he sees himself again as a whole nature, which in turn has to produce a summit. To do this, he rises to the level of permeating himself with all perfection and virtue, invoking choice, order, harmony and meaning, and finally rising to the production of the work of art (Goethe in the book on Winckelmann).

The eurythmy described here is based on such perceptions. What can be intuitively recognized as the impulse of the larynx and the organs that work together with it is transferred in a lawful way to the movements of the whole human organism. In addition, there are forms of movement of this organism in space, and forms that arise through the interaction of a number of people. These movements are a spatial image of everything that animates the formation of words and sounds as emotional content, rhythm, verse construction, etc. If everything that is striven for in this way is only just beginning to be present in the circle mentioned, it may perhaps be seen as the beginning of a movement art based on possible sensations, which promises a fruitful continuation.

On the one hand, this eurythmy is connected to the art of recitation. What resounds in recitation — not the content of the thoughts as such, but the artistic content — comes to manifestation through the changing movements of the human organism and through group forms and group movements in space. From the basic view, it follows that this manifestation is not an arbitrary visualization, but should work in the sense of a work of art that has its own inherent laws, like a musical work of art. In the field of a kind of collaboration between the art of movement and recitation, Marie Steiner has taken over the direction of what has been attempted within the circle mentioned above.

Another aspect, the mood and other musical elements that permeate the performances, are embodied in the following compositions by Mr. van der Pals. The composer has fully adapted to the artistic laws of eurythmy. At the beginning, in the course of certain parts, at the end of a eurythmy piece, these 'preludes' are performed in connection with movements that correspond to the music as well as to the recitation that follows or precedes it. It may well be said that the personalities involved in eurythmy know that they owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. van der Pals. For through his musical assistance, he has had a most significant stimulating and invigorating effect on the art of eurythmy. It is therefore with great satisfaction that this group of individuals is undertaking the publication of van der Pals' compositions. They will give an idea of how this eurythmy will be connected to music in the future. So far, more has been done with a connection after the recitation of the beginning. But there is the possibility to bring the intended art of movement to the musical as closely as to the art of recitation.

Rudolf Steiner.