The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Position of Eurythmy in the Anthroposophical Society

[ 1 ] From mid-May to mid-June, Marie Steiner and the eurythmists of the Goetheanum went on a eurythmy tour through the cities of Ulm, Nuremberg, Eisenach, Erfurt, Naumburg, Hildesheim, Hanover, Halle, and Breslau. The news I receive here at the Goetheanum about this tour speaks of a deep interest on the part of a relatively large audience in the art that has emerged from the anthroposophical movement. The fact that here and there a few troublemakers are causing discord in this otherwise satisfying reception cannot surprise anyone who knows the resistance that anything new and unfamiliar must always face in all areas of life.

[ 2 ] One would expect the Anthroposophical Society to show full support for the endeavors that are at work in the art of eurythmy. For only through such support can the warmth be maintained that is necessary for those who devote themselves to such endeavors.

[ 3 ] Not everyone within the Anthroposophical Society knows on what foundations such endeavors are based. At the Goetheanum, under the direction of Marie Steiner, work is constantly being done to complete the preliminary exercises for the mental images. This work requires the great dedication of all those involved. And it is not always apparent from the outside how arduous it is to make tiring journeys from city to city for artistic purposes, how exhausting it is to develop the artistic mood within the tiring journeys. In order to succeed in such endeavors under the given circumstances, a great deal of dedication and pure enthusiasm for the cause is necessary.

[ 4 ] Eurythmy as an art form is a fruit of the spiritual impulses at work in the anthroposophical movement. What lives in the human organism as soul and spirit is revealed through it in a perceptible way. Its effect on the audience is based on the feeling that in the outwardly visible movements of individuals and groups of people, soul and spirit unfold in immediate perception. In a sense, one has the human soul being before one's eyes.

[ 5 ] And the recitative and musical arts resonate in this striking revelation of the human soul. It can be said that the art of recitation experiences the conditions of its essence in eurythmic endeavors. It is initially bound to the word. But the word is easily tempted to stray from the artistic. It wants to be an expression of the content of the intellect and feelings. However, only the shaping of this content can be artistically effective. When recitation joins the art of eurythmic movement, it must unfold its creative character in all its purity. It must reveal what can be expressed through language in a pictorial and musical way. It was therefore necessary for eurythmy to develop the art of recitation in the way that Marie Steiner's dedication to this part of the anthroposophical movement made possible. Within the Anthroposophical Society, one should follow what has developed since Marie Steiner began her work with a few eurythmists in Berlin in 1914. Eurythmy could only unfold as a visible art of speech alongside the artistically grasped, audible art of speech. Only those who have an artistic grasp of what lies in the audible word can develop the right sense of how the audible is transformed into the visible in eurythmy. The public can only be interested in what ultimately emerges in terms of artistic value. The members of the Anthroposophical Society can take an intimate interest in the development of such an endeavor. For this is part of anthroposophical life.

[ 6 ] Such involvement will enable the noblest humanity to develop. And one of the most distinguished tasks of the Anthroposophical Society lies in this development.

[ 7 ] Our musicians, who place their artistic talents at the service of eurythmy, are, in my conviction, advancing music in a very unique direction through the way they do this and through the great enthusiasm that inspires them, especially in collaboration with related arts. I believe that the musical sense that lives in them finds its true liberation precisely in being placed in this context. In any case, the activities of our musicians within the framework of eurythmic work give rise to a deeply satisfying expansion of the musical into the general artistic realm. And this expansion demonstrates its fruitfulness in the beautiful repercussions it has on the specifically musical realm.

[ 8 ] Marie Steiner's efforts for eurythmy gave rise to the Eurythmeum in Stuttgart. The idea of a eurythmic conservatory is at its core. Eurythmy in all its branches is taught. The auxiliary subjects, poetics, aesthetics, art history, musicology, and so on, are also taught. All of this is presented from an artistic perspective in the light in which eurythmy must stand. What has been created in this way in Stuttgart carries within it many possibilities for further development.

[ 9 ] All such endeavors struggle with the most difficult external conditions of existence. For we are a very poor society. One often has the feeling that so much more could be done if we did not have to struggle so hard in this direction.

[ 10 ] We recently held a conference to discuss the curriculum of the Stuttgart Eurythmeum. The participants in this conference were struck by artistic possibilities of far-reaching significance.

[ 11 ] It is deeply satisfying to see how many members of our society are devoting themselves with the warmest sympathy to the promotion of eurythmic endeavors. This sympathy is growing in a gratifying way. This has brought a new element into our movement that is very much part of its life. For art stands midway between the revelations of the sensory world and spiritual reality. Anthroposophy wants to place the spiritual world before human beings. Art is the reflection of the spirit in the sensory world. If it did not thrive on anthroposophical soil, this could only be due to a deficiency in the soil itself. Recently, this has been increasingly recognized in anthroposophical circles; hopefully, such insights will continue to mature.

Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society

[ 12 ] 47. Only a very small part of what is involved in shaping human destiny enters into ordinary consciousness; for the most part it remains in the unconscious. But it is precisely through the revelation of what is destined that it becomes apparent how the unconscious can be brought into consciousness. Those who speak of the temporarily unconscious as if it must remain absolutely in the realm of the unknown and thus represents a limit to knowledge are quite wrong. With every piece of fate that is revealed to a person, they raise something that was previously unconscious into the realm of consciousness.

[ 13 ] 48. Through such elevation, one becomes aware of how, within the life between birth and death, what is destined is not woven; one is thereby directed, precisely on the question of destiny, to the consideration of life between death and new birth.

[ 14 ] 49. In discussing this pointing out of human experience from itself in the question of fate, one will be able to develop a true feeling for the relationship between the sensual and the spiritual. Anyone who sees fate at work in human beings is already standing in the spiritual. For the connections of fate have nothing natural about them.