From the History of the Dornach Hill... (eBook)

Locher Angela (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
529 Seiten
Rudolf Steiner Press (Verlag)
9781915776266 (ISBN)

Infos

Focusing on Marie Steiner-von Sivers' distinctive collaboration with Rudolf Steiner, From the History of the Dornach Hill... offers an engaging, lively narrative of the early decades of the anthroposophical movement. Utilizing eye-witness accounts and primary sources, Angela Locher creates vivid images of the developing arts at the Goetheanum - in particular eurythmy, speech formation and the dramatic arts - but also describes many fascinating aspects of general anthroposophical history. The latter include the period of cooperation with the Theosophical Society; the design and building of the first and second Goetheanums; travels, tours and visits overseas with Rudolf Steiner; the pivotal Christmas Conference of 1923/4; stage performances including the Mystery Dramas; and Rudolf Steiner's unexpected death and its aftermath. Locher structures her absorbing study around the life of Marie Steiner - from her birth in 1867 and childhood in Russia to her eventual passing in Switzerland in 1948. 'I have written this book especially for subsequent generations of eurythmists, actors and speakers who could not experience what had been achieved in the previous century... the vital processes of the development of eurythmy and the dramatic arts. These created the foundation on which we stand today, and from which we can carry on into the future.' - Angela Locher This work by Angela Locher can be greeted with enthusiasm... In view of the difficult challenges of our time, more people than ever are beginning to experience that the arts are not merely a beautiful addition to life but are profoundly connected to our humanity. - Virginia Sease

ANGELA LOCHER was born in Switzerland in 1930 and attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Zurich, where she excelled as a flutist. She served an apprenticeship as a bookbinder before studying eurythmy under Marianne Ruof and later Helene Reisinger. In 1955 she joined the eurythmy stage group at the Goetheanum under the direction of Marie Savitch. In 1973, she directed post-graduate studies for eurythmists, and from 1981 to 1990 she was leader of eurythmy work at the Goetheanum. From 1991 to 2004 she worked with the eurythmy training in Berlin. She has created numerous choreography forms for music and recitation, and has authored a biography of the eurythmist Helene Reisinger, who worked with Marie Steiner. Angela devoted her attention to creating this book in her 87th year, whilst living in close vicinity to the Goetheanum.

Textauszug

From the Biography of the Goetheanum Hill in Dornach 1913–1930 in 38 Pictures*

Image 1: The Dornach hill, still totally bare of buildings other than a few houses on the west slope. Evening at 7:00 p.m. on 20 September, 1913, during rain and a thunderstorm, Rudolf Steiner lowered the Foundation Stone for the Goetheanum building into the earth. A small group of his most intimate co-workers were present for this event.

Image 2: Life awakened on the hill as artists and volunteers arrived from all corners of the world and joyfully connected themselves with this building impulse. The daily work on the building and the development of eurythmy began to unfold.

Image 3: At the outbreak of war on 1 August, 1914, the double-domed building on the hill was visible from afar—but from afar, the thundering of cannon fire could also be heard. On the hill all becomes quiet. Many volunteers had to leave Dornach to perform war service in their respective countries.

Image 4: In the autumn of 1914, eurythmy found its home in the Goetheanum on the hill. The practise hall over the south portal was completed and the daily rehearsals of the eager eurythmists could take place in the building. Simultaneously, the carving of the wooden pillars, capitals and architraves inside the Great Hall took place.

Image 5: In the evenings, when work ceased on the building, choruses from Goethe’s Faust resounded from the hill. Marie Steiner created and developed the art of speech formation through scenes from Faust, which Rudolf Steiner began to rehearse eurythmically with the volunteers.

Image 6: Late summer 1915: eurythmy entered a new phase of development. In a three-week course, Rudolf Steiner introduced choreography for simple fundamental elements and some sounds of speech, which unveiled the soul-gesture of the sounds and the cosmic origin of speech. In this connection his poem ‘The Planetary Dance’ and the verses to ‘The Twelve Moods’ found their birth hour in the hall above the south portal of the Goetheanum.

* Publisher’s note: These are not photo captions but images to be pictured in the mind.

Image 7: In the evenings toward the end of the year, one heard and saw Rudolf Steiner in the Carpentry Building, joyfully rehearsing the Oberufer Christmas plays in their traditional dialect with some co-workers. Year after year during the Christmas season, up to the present day, these traditional Christmas plays are presented. From far and wide people come to attend them.

Image 8: In August 1918, Rudolf Steiner arrived on the hill, as he did frequently. After six months of many engagements in Germany related to the Threefold Social Order, where he gave countless lectures, and instilled in the people the courage to pierce through to the spirit, he was again among the co-workers, and filled with gratitude for the progress in the artistic creations. He worked up on the scaffolding, painting the interior of the small cupola, and continued his carving on the wooden sculpture The Representative of Man.

Image 9: In November, Rudolf Steiner created the first choreography for eurythmy to the poetry of Fercher von Steinwand: ‘Chor der Urtriebe’. In December the choreography to the verses of the Calendar of the Soul appeared. Dance choreography to the movement of speech had never before found expression.

Image 10: Although not yet completed, in 1920 the building opened its portals to the public with the first Spiritual Science courses. The opening ceremony took place on 26 September, 1920. For the first time music, speech formation and eurythmy—‘The Twelve Moods’—united the architectural forms of the stage space with the space of the auditorium.

Image 11: From the end of December 1921 to the beginning of 1922, the English language was heard at the Goetheanum. Called together by prominent English pedagogues, a circle of teachers from Scandinavia, Holland, Germany and Switzerland gathered to hear Rudolf Steiner’s indications on pedagogy, education and teaching practices.

Image 12: The following September [1922], it was the French language that made itself at home on the hill. Members came from France to the Goetheanum to hear the central themes of Rudolf Steiner’s Spiritual Science. They heard significant lectures on cosmology, philosophy and religion from an anthroposophical point of view.

Image 13: During the same autumnal days another image emerged. In the hall over the south portal of the Goetheanum, theologians gathered to seek the help of Rudolf Steiner to bring about a renewal of Christian religious life. Preparations were made for the founding of The Christian Community. On 16 September, 1922, the Act of the Consecration of Man was celebrated for the first time on the Dornach hill.

Image 14: In the seclusion of her studio, the sculptress Edith Maryon worked on her own inspired eurythmy representations of the entire alphabet and the soul gestures. These were executed by Rudolf Steiner. They are little plywood figures with three colours painted on each. In early December after a lecture in the Carpentry Building, Rudolf Steiner presented these 33 expressionistic works of art as an artistic tool to represent eurythmy in picture form. Amazement and joy filled the hearts of the eurythmists.

Image 15: 31 December, 1922. In the night of New Year’s Eve, the hill was lit up by a huge firestorm. One looked into a sea of flames with mighty tongues of fire climbing into the night sky. They devoured the building whose new architectural style revealed the beginning of a turning point of time. Only the foundation walls remained. The fire could not destroy Rudolf Steiner’s statue of The Representative of Man, as it stood still incomplete in his studio. On the morning of New Year’s Day, while the flames were still burning the last remnants of the building, the spiritual work continued without interruption in the Carpentry Building.

Image 16: On the hill, the charcoal remnants of the building were covered with snow. The Carpentry Building was provisionally expanded to accommodate friends coming from around the world to the Christmas Conference. From 24 December to 1 January, 1924, the hill became the scene of the newly established Anthroposophical Society. Rudolf Steiner laid the Foundation Stone mantric verses into the hearts of the members. Also, he created a new esoteric school, the School of Spiritual Science.

Image 17: At the conclusion of the Conference on 1 January, in the presence of the friends gathered there, Rudolf Steiner developed his architectural ideas for the new building. These new forms became visible as he drew them on the blackboard.

Image 18: Also another event occurred in January on the hill: a year after the deliberately ignited, terrible Goetheanum fire, an attempt was made to poison Dr Steiner during a social gathering called a ‘Rout’. Rudolf Steiner was initially able to overcome this life-threatening attack. It was not possible by the fire or the attack to strike down the spiritual work. The work in service of the newly founded Society continued to grow exponentially.

Image 19: Rudolf Steiner’s farewell words from his evening lecture on 1 January, 1924, were still resounding on the hill: ‘What now must emanate from Dornach, as I have emphasized from various points of view, is an impulse not sprung from the earth, but an impulse sprung from the spiritual world. We want to develop the strength to follow the impulses coming from the spiritual world.’2

Image 20: In deep winter, silence had fallen over the hill, but the life that was created in the Carpentry Building during the Christmas Conference was still reverberating through its modest rooms. It had become a sacred space and served as a place of daily work.

Image 21: In his studio on the hill, by the middle of March Rudolf Steiner had created and completed the entire model for the second Goetheanum. All the architects, sculptors, artists, and co-workers stood stunned before this totally new building style made of concrete.

Image 22: In the painting studio of the Carpentry Building, Rudolf Steiner had created four large watercolours in which he pointed to new paths for the artists. He created a new technique which showed artists how they can bring expression to the experience of life in the world of colour. Rudolf Steiner’s watercolours were named: Mother and Child, Easter, Primal Plant, and Primal Human Being. The last three paintings were used as posters for eurythmy performances.

Image 23: A further image invites us to join Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner as they worked with eurythmists with the text of the Foundation Stone. Step by step Rudolf Steiner created movements in space expressing the life of the words. Rudolf Steiner spoke some introductory words before the performance on Easter Monday, 21 April, 1924. ‘With today’s eurythmy performance we would like to give you something which, in a certain sense, can be called a continuation of what was inaugurated at the Christmas Conference.’

Image 24: Images prior to Michaelmas of 1924 are shown. By immersing oneself into the aura of the hill an image appears before the inner eye: a vast field into which innumerable seeds have been planted. The School of Spiritual Science began with esoteric lessons. Doctors, eurythmists, musicians, teachers, therapeutic educators, theologians, speech artists, actors and...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.11.2024
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Esoterik / Spiritualität
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
• Themenwelt: Weitere Fachgebiete ► Anthroposophie
• ISBN-13: 9781915776266 / 9781915776266