Lecture 5:
Choral Eurythmy
Dornach, 23.2.24
You will have seen that it is quite possible for a single individual
to express in eurythmy the essence of the musical element as musical
element. We have tried to show how, for instance, the triad and the
progression of the phrase may be mastered by a single person.
But the eurythmical expression
of the musical element by a single person, from a certain point of view,
is necessarily rather primitive, and is somewhat meagre when presented
on the stage — although most beautiful and impressive performances can
be given by a solo eurythmist. It is to be hoped that these solo performances
will be valued, for they are a means whereby the actual essence of musical
eurythmy may be revealed. In spite of this, it cannot be denied that
a musical impression can also be given by means of the concerted working
of a number of people, in other words by means of choral eurythmy. The
point, however, is that we must not merely take these things schematically,
but also enter somewhat into the quality of working together in artistic
presentation.
I have emphasized what
doing eurythmy entails: it is work to raise (heraufarbeiten)
the physical human being (which really only ‘sounds’ in beat) to the
etheric and the astral human being [see Appendix 2, final quotations].
And if we seek for Melos as such in the astral organization
of the human being (and we seek for speech in the ego-organization),
then we can perceive that which forms the fundamental basis of musical
eurythmy. What you experience as astral human being usually remains
stuck in a state of repose. But when you proceed a step further and
present to the world that which otherwise remains in repose in the astral
human being, you show, as it were, your spirit and soul nature. And
it is this power of making things manifest which constitutes the most
predominant element of all artistic endeavour.
At this point I will take
the opportunity of alluding to a very, very remarkable contemporary
phenomenon. My reason for doing so is, that if as eurythmists you can
awaken a feeling for it, it would do much to help you in the actual
artistic development of eurythmy.
During this course of lectures on tone eurythmy, I have often found
myself thinking of a very significant Austrian musician of the present
day. This musician, who was born in Wiener-Neustadt, opposes all modern
music with extraordinary vehemence, denouncing it as ‘bad European music’.
This in itself is an interesting phenomenon, and should be of special
interest to eurythmists. Hauer [33] began to study music at a very early
age, between his fifth and eighth to ninth years, by playing the zither,
and he progressed far, coming to the view that it does not take much
to acquire all that we presently call music. We can feel in Hauer's
whole manner of expression that in a certain respect he is inwardly
extraordinarily honest. On the one hand, he came to the conclusion that
what goes by the name of music today is exceptionally easily come by,
but, on the other hand, that precisely the musical element is missing,
that we are led away from the musical realm. Indeed, very much of what
I have to say about the eurythmic presentation of the musical realm
can be found in Hauer's writings, although he expresses it in a stark
and radical way. He speaks, for example, about atonal music.
I have said that the actual
musical element, the spiritual element in music, lies between the notes,
in the intervals, constituting that which we do not hear. In speaking
about atonal music Hauer touches on something that is very significant
and true. He is of the opinion that the production of a note or chord
is nothing more than an appeal to the emotions or the senses — merely
a means to express externally the inaudible Melos, which presents
the inmost life of the human soul.
Now there is something
so decadent and chaotic in the culture and civilization of the present
day, especially where the arts are concerned, that your heart may well
warm towards anyone who, with a certain instinctive flair, realizes
that the music of today [1924] is not really music, but simply noise,
and perceives that on which the musical element depends. It is, moreover,
not difficult to understand that a man who has developed by himself
out of all this can be absolutely furious with all European art. And
this is true of Hauer. European art is absolutely repugnant to him.
All this is very interesting,
and I have long been interested in this man Hauer. At the time when
I was trying to lead over the musical element into eurythmy, I had to
seek for some things that appear in Hauer, and I had to say to myself
‘It is certain that you could never take Hauer's atonal Melos
as a basis for the gestures of eurythmy.’ The movements of eurythmy
could not be found in this way. I had to ask myself: ‘Why is this so?
Why is it not possible to come to eurythmic movements in this way, when
Hauer undoubtedly feels the movement of Melos with such inwardness,
and sees so clearly what is essential in the musical realm?’ In the
case of Hauer, the explanation is simple. Hauer hates that civilization
which marks the beginning of European culture — a civilization which
the rest of humanity admires tremendously. He hates the civilization
of Greece. He is a man who hates to excess the civilization of Greece.
Now it is interesting
for once to come across a man who honestly and truly hates Greek civilization.
There are any number of people who venerate it insincerely, by which
I do not mean to imply that there are not others who venerate it with
sincerity. To honour Sophocles and Aeschylus is a matter of course today,
whereas to find anyone abusing Sophocles and Aeschylus as destroyers
of art is an interesting phenomenon, and one which should not be overlooked.
Hauer's view of the Greeks is based on the fact that, in his opinion,
they brought everything that is related to art into the theatre, thus
pouring everything that is audible into visibility: Now, after all,
that is quite true. The question is whether we can also love the visible
realm. If we are to find our way to eurythmy, we must of course be able
to love what is visible. If we do not love the visible realm, honestly
do not love it, preferring to remain in the audible realm,
to stop with Melos, then we shall never be able to find any
satisfaction in Greek culture, where everything was transferred into
the sphere of what can be seen and understood.
Now among the orientals
there were inspired teachers who truly wanted to listen to the audible
realm. Oriental architecture was really music in space; it has within
it a great deal of eurythmy. You actually see Melos pouring
itself into movement. Europe possesses very little understanding for
a musical architecture, as has been built with the Goetheanum here in
Dornach, for the Goetheanum was, in a sense, a revolt against Greek
architecture. There was very little suggestion of Greek architecture
about it; but the Goetheanum was musical, it was eurythmic. [34]
Now, you see, Hauer actually
hates speech, too, because speech does not stop with Melos,
but (as I have already shown) does violence to it, pushing it into the
outer world. For from the moment we utter sounds (and in so doing give
ourselves up to what is demanded of us by the meaning of the sounds),
from that moment onwards we become in a certain sense unmusical. The
speaking of sounds is an art that in fact can only indicate a sounding
of Melos. Melos may thus peep through, but it cannot
be fully developed. You cannot form words according to the arrangement
I proposed, as if the vowel sounds contained in them were really thirds
or other intervals. You cannot do this, for the world does not permit
it.
When (let us say) you
feel wonder, an ah, and just after experiencing this sound
you experience some feeling (let's say) which lies in the interval of
the third compared to the former feeling, the world does not allow you
to feel it. It's not possible, wouldn't you agree? — Life continually
destroys that which is musical. Nature too is unmusical, and it is not
from nature that we are able to derive that which is musical.
This destruction of what
is musical extends to recitation and declamation. If there were only
vowel sounds in speech, there would be no recitation or declamation,
for the human being would always be yielding up his inner being (through
pronouncing the vowels) to the outer world. There would be no declamation
or recitation, for we would have to go along with the experiences of
the world, and it would not be possible to conserve the musical element.
That is why we have the consonants. The consonants are, as it were,
the apology for the vowels. Man apologises to himself for the fact that,
in the vowel sounds, he follows his own experiences. And when he fits
in the consonants between the vowels, it is an apology for having become
so foreign to himself. When you make the sound a follow an ah, forming
thus either warte or balde (I have already spoken about these things)
you have at the same time, in the consonants fitting themselves in between
the ah and the a, an apology for the succession of the vowels.
In the case of that particular
poem by Goethe, however, the vowels really make a musical effect, and
consequently this apology of the consonants is not so much needed. When
listening to this poem, a subtle, musical impression would be received
if the speaker could achieve a swallowing of the consonants as much
as possible, so that only the vowels were audible, with the consonants
merely indicated.
Many other poems, however,
really need the consonants. It may be said that the less musical a poem
is, the more careful you must be to make the right use of the consonantal
instrument (palate, mouth, lips, teeth, and so on). Then, in recitation
and declamation, we have the apology for the offence committed by the
vowels.
This will demonstrate
that with the vowel sounds, which are an externalization of what is
inward, the human being places a kind of caricature into the world.
He is no longer himself. The human being is himself as long as he remains
musical. When he becomes a vowel sound, he places a caricature in the
world. With the consonants he once again recasts this caricature into
the human form, and is then outside. He lays hold of an image of himself
This corresponds to the vowel when framed by the consonants. In music
we go more and more inwards. In speech we go further and further outwards.
It is infinitely important for eurythmists to feel and experience these
things, to develop a rounding-off of the artistic process, which is
more than simply making or copying movements.
Taking
this as your starting-point you will also be able to feel how choral
eurythmy can be effective. In choral eurythmy we are dealing with a
number of people. Let us first take the musical case: We have a metamorphosis
of the motif, or phrase. We might express this metamorphosis of motifs
in choral form by somehow grouping people together — three, let
us say. We will let the first person present the first motif in eurythmy
by moving in the form to the place of the second person, who will now
take over the second metamorphosis of the motif. The first person remains
standing. The second person moves on, passing the next metamorphosis
of the motif over to the third person, who now continues the form to
the place of the first (see Fig. 5). A kind of round dance can be brought
about in this way.
Fig. 5
It is only
necessary in such a case for those who remain to continue to carry out
the corresponding motifs while standing. In this simple way (where one
person develops the motifs by moving, while the others retain their
original motifs in standing), we have introduced a new variation into
the motifs by means of eurythmy. By means of the motif which is in motion
and the motif which is formed, in eurythmy we are able to introduee
into the musical realm something which could never be expressed by the
pure musical element, for in the pure musical element the previous chord
or motif can no longer be retained after the new one has begun to sound.
Only think
how often I have observed that, in the spiritual world, the past remains.
In this development of the motifs through the chorus, the past remains
(becomes engraved, so to speak, hardened), through the fact that the
bearer of the motif in question carries out the movements while standing.
This is one way.
Another
variation appears when we have chords in the progressions of the motif.
Here you can arrange the chorus in such a way that the chord is carried
out by several people, and the motif is carried over to another group
of people. In this way, one group expresses the harmonic element, and
the harmonic development is then expressed by letting the harmony flow
over from one group to another. Here we reach something very significant
and totally different in its effect. When the progression of the motif
is expressed in movement (the chord can also be represented by a single
person, and the progression of the motif can also be expressed in movement
by an individual), the space in which the movement occurs, and all the
metamorphoses and transformations of the music, are filled out by the
physical human being.
When making use of a chorus,
however (we will suppose that you have one group of three people, and
three more, and a further three, each carrying the progression of the
motif from one group to the next), the element of visibility ceases
to be [paramount], for when the motif is passed from one group to the
next an invisible element wends its way through this choral dance. Here
we approach very near to making this invisible element musical, very
near especially to atonal music. Thus, by transferring to a chorus,
the whole matter takes on quite a different aspect [from a solo performance].
In this way the aspect of the musical element which is becoming progressively
unmusical, may be made musical once again by means of eurythmy, because
movement makes it possible to appeal to that which is invisible. Thus,
in this direction too, we shall possibly find that tone eurythmy is
able to exert a corrective influence upon the musical element.
Now in the continuation
of a motif everything will naturally depend upon the movement, but when
the chord is being represented by a group, the relative positions of
the people are of importance. The people in question (even when their
group is moving) must endeavour to retain their relative positions.
Your feelings will have to tell you this. Let us now suppose that we
have to represent a triad. You can't place yourselves one behind the
other (left of the diagram). You can and have to feel that you place
yourselves in such a way that the first person stands here, the second
here and the third in the middle (see Fig. 6).
Fig. 6
Then, when the lowest
note is taken by the first person, the next highest note by the second
person, and the third note (if you wish, the fifth) by the third person,
then you can tell by looking at it that the right thing has happened.
The motif, when brought into movement, is carried over to the next group
of people. And when the whole chorus is moving, each individual must
endeavour to retain the right position in relationship to the others,
so the whole design of the form (which is determinded by the relative
positions of the people) may be expressed through this.
If we have a combination
of two notes, the people can only be placed in this way:
Fig. 7
We can feel that this
is incomplete.
But now for the four-note
discord. When you consider the artistic effect of placing three people
as we did for the triad, and observe the complete grouping (which really
does make the triad stand before us), then you will say to yourself:
Where shall I put the fourth person? Whoever has artistic feeling will
not find a place for a fourth person. Indeed no such place can be found.
The fourth person can only be provided for by letting him or her move
around the third person. There is no other way of doing it. You come
to this by direct intuition. So now you already have an indication for
the discord in the grouping. The group, the fixed configuration, can
only express concords. The moment a discord enters, movement must be
introduced into the grouping.
When you introduce movement
into the grouping, you bring a challenge, and you can no longer remain
still. The movement made by the fourth person (a movement necessary
to the progression, to the resolution of the discord) is disclosed by
its own nature.
Fig. 8
You see, we have to look
at things in this way if we are to gain insight into the gestures as
the essential matter. Having gained this insight, you will say to yourselves:
‘What we do is the outcome of an intrinsic necessity.’ This is no infringement
of freedom, although it does not open the door for purely arbitrary
ideas. What always remains is the freedom to carry out the movements
beautifully.
Choral eurythmy may be
developed from the usual eurythmy which the individual presents. In
particular, however, the following can be done. Let us suppose that
in some piece of music we have the tonic, the dominant and the subdominant.
To present this we take three groups of people and place the tonic with
the first group, the dominant with the second group and the subdominant
with the third, making those presenting the tonic have larger movements,
whereas those presenting the dominant and subdominant make smaller ones.
Now try to imagine how this would look. The frequent recurrence of the
tonic is shown by the larger forms. The tonic is given prominence by
the larger movements. It follows that the eurythmist who is moving these
larger forms will quite naturally make larger gestures too, prompted
by his or her feeling. The tonic, which recurs time and again, also
recurs in the eurythmy forms. If these things are well practised in
the way that has been explained, you will find that the character of
each individual key [35] will be revealed, for you will be obliged to
make the corresponding movements in the transitions.
The difference between
major and minor keys appears very clearly with this interplay between
the different groups [see Steiner's lecture notes, p. 24]. And when,
in addition, you take into consideration the fact that every time a
sound goes higher there should be the feeling that the eurythmist has
to approach nearer to the audience, whereas when the sound goes lower
the eurythmist has to move more towards the back of the stage — when
all this is added you will have the whole musical element in a visual
image.
There is still another
point which belongs to this, that when a group comes to high notes,
there must be a feeling that the movement has to be made more pointed,
whereas when it is a question of lower notes, then it has to become
rounder. Thus it may be said that a movement carried out with this gesture
is lower, and a movement with this gesture is higher.
Fig. 9
You will say: ‘These
things present us with a great deal to learn, for in actual practice
they are very complicated.’ Quite true! But they are no more complicated
than learning to play the piano, or learning to sing.
I have indicated how the
transition can be made from solo eurythmy to choral eurythmy. Real difficulties
only make their appearance when we come to polyphonic music, but we
shall speak about this tomorrow. In movement the whole affair will become
even more disjointed than in the musical element as such. When we have
a piece with many voices, therefore, we also have to make use of different
people, and the quality of belonging together can only be achieved by
means of a certain relationship in the form.
At this point I should
like to develop a brief, esoteric ‘intermezzo’ for you. It
has to do with the fact that the eurythmist has to use his or her body
as an instrument. Only think of all that goes into the making of an
instrument and how we appreciate certain violins which today can
actually no longer be made.
[Instruments made by Stradivarius, Guarnerius, and so on. (Translator's note.)]
Think of everything that is involved in
an external musical instrument. Now it is true that the human being
is, in a certain way, exempt from these demands, for the divine-spiritual
powers have already built him as an exceedingly good instrument. But
actually the case is not so rosy, for otherwise every individual would
find his body were the most perfectly suitable instrument. The eurythmists
sitting here will be well aware of the great difficulties they have
in overcoming bodily hindrances and impediments, if it is a question
of arriving at eurythmy that is really worthy of the art.
The fact is that quite
a bit can be done in order to work inwardly upon your body so that eurythmy
to the sounds of speech and of music may gradually appear out of this
body in a truly artistic, complete form. There is very little opportunity
for this in the civilized life of Europe. European civilization has
developed a view towards outer nature, but has not developed that which
is necessary to give the human being a place in the world commensurate
with true human dignity. And so people today have great difficulty feeling
their real humanity within themselves.
Now what I have to say
in this direction will not be immediately clear. It will become apparent
through doing it. What I want to say in this connection is as follows.
Listen to this progression of notes, which will at first seem very strange
to you:
.
Fig. 10
And now (to the pianist):
Play the first two notes together and the next two notes consecutively,
sustaining the last note for a long time. The first two notes, accordingly,
played together and the last two notes one after the other, the final
note sustained for a long time.
Now will someone who can
do it well show this in eurythmy, simply in standing: B, A, along with
E and D; the E short, and sustaining the last note for a long time.
And now I need somebody
who will sing a word to this progression of notes; for there is a word
which rings true when sung to this peculiar progression of notes, namely,
the word ‘T A 0’. We are dealing here with the following: When expressing
this in eurythmy (and here you must apply what has been given in these
lectures) you have the seventh, the sixth, and only then the other notes.
But you also have to feel the descending progression of notes, and then
try to express this in eurythmy, not merely the notes. Hitherto you
have become stuck in what is elementary, but you really have to express
what I have said and then you will see that in the TAO you have a wonderful
means of making your inner bodily nature flexible, inwardly supple,
and able to be artistically fashioned for eurythmy. For when you lead
the seventh and the sixth, as I have indicated them, down into the E
and the D (that is to say you come into this second), you will see how
by carrying this out you will gain an inner strength which you will
be able to carry over into all your eurythmy. This is an esoteric exercise,
and when it is carried out it means meditation in eurythmy.
And when you ask someone
else (either singing or speaking in a reciting or declamatory way) to
accompany these gestures with declamation or singing of TAO, you will
see that in connection with singing, eurythmy and recitation, this is
something like that which meditation is for general human life.
What I have given here
is indeed an esoteric ‘intermezzo’, and it points the way to eurythmic
meditation. We must go very far back, back to the ancient civilization
of China, if we are to find our way into this meditation in eurythmy.
[36] And you will understand that we can exercise a certain sympathy
for someone who wants to get back to the ancient Orient in order to
re-discover music, and whose feeling leads him to say: The Greeks have
totally ruined music, and that is why the Greeks really had no proper
musician — with the exception of the mythological figure, Orpheus. [12,
end]
On the other hand, we
can love the Greek civilization for its way of entering into the sculptural,
plastic element. But one thing is true, that the Greek culture with
its sculpture gradually was led away from eurythmy. Here we must compare
the forms of oriental architecture, which really did transpose music
into movement, with the forms of Greek architecture, which basically
exhibit a dreadful symmetry. Here this dreadful symmetry rules. This,
too, had to make its appearance in the world at some point.
The Greek culture did
(I might almost say) tragically suffer the consequences of its civilization.
It was a short-lived civilization, bringing about its own dissolution.
The fault does not lie in the Greek culture: the fault lies in the fact
that Greek culture is supposed to be forever reproduced in European
civilization. It is, however, a kind of dissolution of this Greek element
when we derive our movements directly from speech and singing, from
the realms of speech and of music themselves. The difficulty people
have in understanding eurythmy lies in the fact that European understanding
has been, as it were, frozen into the reposing form, and is fundamentally
no longer able to live in movement. The reposing form, however, should
be left to. nature. When we come to the human being, we have to enter
into movement, because the human being transcends the reposing, purely
sense-perceptibly visible form.
That is what I wanted
to say to you today.
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