The Rudolf Steiner Archive

183a

new page, probably a continuation of the previous one.

Mrs. v. Moltke asked me for the notebooks with her notes; she claims that one is still missing from a series, a black wax cloth notebook that you still wanted to look at, and a folded piece of paper with her husband's handwriting. Of course, I did not find these two items. Instead, I found a number of notebooks with the records of the manifestations of the spirit Emanuel.⁷⁶ El. Moltke's handwriting, and on the title page “Property of Dr. Steiner”. What should I do with it? If I give it to her, future generations will have documents from which it can be proved that Dr. Steiner received his research results through a mediumistic channel from a spirit. So should I bring it with me or destroy it? Is it any different from what is in a printed book?

I have cleared out the blue cupboard and put together all the letters that had an old-time character from Vienna; all the notebooks that exist; even most of the letters from the Berlin period. Now there is a bound pile of old magazine manuscripts; ⁷⁷. Can I destroy that? And lying in a mess between the letters, pages of old manuscripts; I would like to make them disappear too – is that possible?

On the blue shelf, down in the cupboard compartments, there are piles of letters, receipts, etc., tied up neatly. Should I pack the piles in their tied units in boxes, as they are? Should they then go to Dornach or to Stuttgart, where no customs duties would have to be paid?

What should I do with the M.E. memoirs that are lying under a black cloth in a file basket? ⁷⁸ of which nothing should ever be spilled? (S..., A..., Mercury?) Should I hand it over to Selling as it is or bring it with me?

Thanks for the letter. Yesterday, ⁷⁹, bombarded me with her obsession about Meyer from 6:30 until almost 11. Today, Münch is coming; more later.

Kind regards, also to Waller and the 3^{,80 [Fräulein]. Marie}

Couldn't Käthe [Mitscher] manage a letter? I'm wondering.

• 76. See Rudolf Steiner's answer in Letter No. 186.
• 77. Rudolf Steiner published the “Magazine for Literature” from July 1, 1818 to September 29, 1900.
• 78. See note on no. 42 and the preliminary remarks for 1906.
• 79. Margarethe Krause, a member of the Göttingen group from 1914 and in Berlin from 1920
• ,^{80. Helene Lehmann, Helene Dubach, Olga Zibell.}
⁸⁰

186

To Marie Steiner in Berlin
Thursday, December 13, 1923

Dornach, December 13, 1923

My dear Mouse!

Many thanks for the telegrams. We have everything we need for eurythmy; so we want to give the two plays here tomorrow, Friday: Paradeisspiel and Christigeburtspiel. Then on Saturday there will be a rehearsal in Schaffhausen and on Sunday a performance. I am concerned that you have so much to do in Berlin. But now you will be back soon. There will be an almost overwhelming rush here at Christmas. The book shed has been started; and everything possible must be done to get it ready in time. I think it will hold 135,000 books the size of “The Philosophy of Freedom”. That will suffice for the time being.

At the Goetheanum, I have begun to publish my memoirs ⁹⁶ I will arrange for it to be published as a book here by the Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag as soon as the advance copy has taken effect as an announcement. After the second or third article, I will emphatically put a stop to it and only publish further messages in the 'Goetheanum' as excerpts from the later book; but in such a way that the printed sentence can be used. I feel as if I have left the earth by writing this biography. But I think I can contribute a great deal of spiritual material to the later chapters, where the 1880s and 1890s come into consideration, which will supplement what is in the books and cycles. So far, only the first paragraph has been printed (1st-5th year); the second (3rd-8th year) is being printed today.

Now, I can only make a decision about the payment terms and the number of books for Rath once I have seen the publisher's books. Walther is writing a synopsis about Möcke keeping the apartment and asking whether I agree with it. It's impossible to say anything about this without hearing the little bit of bureaucracy that Walther writes in convoluted sentences. I am worried that this will cause you even more trouble.

The Emanuel books can either only be taken or burned. I don't know what's inside. Because I haven't even opened them, let alone read them.

The M.E. things can be stored under some kind of secure lock at Selling. They should not be taken away. It is scary for me to leave them behind, but it has to be that way.

You do not need to take the future issues with you, because I will probably have no need in this life to read the few valuable essays in the various years; but they should not be discarded, but

sold second hand. Until recently, they were paid for very expensively. And now, until we meet again soon.

Kindest regards, Rudolf

• 96. “My Life's Journey”, which appeared in weekly installments from December 9, 1923, to April 5, 1925, in the weekly journal “Das Goetheanum”. First edition published in 1925 by Marie Steiner.

192

To Rudolf Steiner, in Paris Wednesday, May 21, 1924

Nuremberg, May 21, 1924

L. E. Now we have left Ulm behind us. As we arrived, there was a lot of military music, parades, flags, and arches with “Welcome Grenadiers” written on them. I was a little worried, but everything went off fairly well. The theater was almost full, which is said to be extremely rare. The applause was met with hisses when it started a second or third time. Thanks were given twice. As a result, the only pieces to receive a third round of applause with a repeat performance were the little prelude by Chopin and the “Nixe Binsefuß”! ¹ The program does not completely satisfy me. I am now trying to give it more lightness by putting the “Sträußchen” between the last two allegri, where Ilse [v. Baravalle] changes clothes for a long time. De Jaager even went along with it in a friendly way after she lost her mermaid. She used to make a fuss about the little bouquet too. — The Grave is not very perfectly executed by the heaviness of Schuurman,² who, incidentally, deigned to say in the dressing room that she would now start working again: until now, her stubbornness had prevented her. Savitsch is behaving properly — he is taking part in all the car trips, hopefully they will suit him. They are very long, of course, but very beautiful. Sitting in the front is very good for me — the wind is very warm and seems to clear the windpipe. On Sunday, it blew away my little Dornach throat pain. On Monday, during the performance in Ulm, I froze to death and it came back, but it blew away again on the long journey yesterday. If I hadn't had the long dress rehearsal immediately afterwards at 8:30 in the evening, maybe my neck would have stayed okay too; now it's really nasty today. -— But mares ³ has a fever and a sore throat, Mitscher even thinks he has jaundice. He is with members; if it gets worse, he wants to go to the hospital. Should we send him home when he is able to travel – that is the question. Today a Mr. Schenk will read. The Ulm critics have treated us well so far. I wish I could hope that you are not doing badly. Thank you for the promised forms. Warmest regards and all the best for Paris.

Marie

• 1. Poem by Eduard Mörike. The posy: poem by Goethe.
• 2. Maria Ina Schuurman, née Bayer (1894-1977), member since April 1914 in Koblenz, eurythmist in Dornach, married to Max Schuurman.
• 3. Jan Adriaan mares (1890-1948), from Holland, musician, studied together with Max Schuurman at the conservatory in Cologne, both became members in February 1911 in the branch of Mathilde Scholl. From 1914 until his death, he was a composer and conductor and a brilliant co-worker of Marie Steiner. He performed various stage roles under the direction of Rudolf Steiner. He later also became a stage designer: in 1928 for the 1st and 2nd Mystery Dramas, and in 1937 for “Faust”. Various compositions, especially for 'Faust' and the funeral music for Rudolf Steiner. Member of the Rudolf Steiner estate administration.

196

To Marie Steiner on a eurythmy tour
Saturday, 31 May 1924

Dornach, 31 May 1924 My dear Mouse,

I find the disruption of the Erfurt performance very distressing. Of course, something like this can be caused by a single person, and it can have the worst effects on the audience. When I look at the names of the cities where you are giving performances, I think to myself: how much the last few years have brought to these cities, which, at the time of my life in Thuringia, breathed true peaceableness. I was so pleased to receive your beautiful, inspiring description of the German Mittelland that I was all the more saddened when your letter with the bad news arrived.

Hopefully your health is not suffering too much from the hardships and excitements. It is quite unfortunate that Stuten had to be left behind. I have not heard anything more about him. I hope he will soon be better.

My journey went very well. There was only one disruption, in that one evening Sauerwein was ill and so could not translate. Claretie did it instead; her translation was quite excellent; but no one heard the excellence because she squeaked like the most gentle of little birds.

The public lecture was attended by more than 400 people. The atmosphere was extraordinary. The days were fully occupied. My stomach held out thanks to the care that was developed for it.

But now Dr. Wegman and I were surprised by the worst news from Dornach, even when we were out and about. The Werbeck book, because of the passages about Kully, was confiscated at our book sale and taken to court; Steffen, as editor of the 'Goetheanum', and Dr. Grosheintz, as a member of the Goetheanum authorized to sign, were accused of defamation, because an article by Steffen about the Werbeck book had appeared in the 'Goetheanum'. So we learned from outside that things are getting pretty wild in Dornach. The first court hearing was scheduled for today, May 31. When I came home, I saw the whole mess. The passage in Werbeck's book is such that a conviction is inevitable. I now held an emergency night meeting with the board, at which Grosheintz was also present. It had to be determined who could actually be charged. I have now given instructions to both Steffen and Grosheintz – I myself have not yet been summoned – which they followed well at the hearing today. We will now have time to further develop the case so that I can lead the defense myself. For only in this way can the matter be turned around properly. Werbeck, the assassin, cannot be reached because he cannot be sued in Switzerland, nor can the Stuttgarter Verlag. Grosheintz would be inconvenient. Only Steffen remains, or the entire executive council of the Anthroposophical Society. The latter would be best and must be achieved, because then I will lead the matter. It is also true that in the current situation since the Christmas Conference, the board takes responsibility for such a matter. And this will certainly happen. Under no circumstances can the book delivery service be held responsible. The matter will then be dealt with in such a way that we as the board will be sentenced to pay around 1000 francs and the court costs. Any other approach would create some kind of imbalance. When we read the Werbeck passage at the board meeting, I immediately said that we would of course not be acquitted. So far, things have gone well because Grosheintz and Steffen have strictly adhered to my wording at the board meeting. Now I have time to discuss the matter with you in detail after our meeting.

You understand that I did not want to write to Thuringia from out of town; that too might have been detrimental. Our opponents are at work.

All my love, Rudolf.

201

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Sunday, October 5, 1924

Hanover, October 5.

Dear E.

How kind of you to write me letters. Does it not tire you out? But then again, you probably work in bed all day. I am very happy that you are upstairs and do not have the trouble of traveling back and forth. You can't even turn around in your room, Villa Hansi, it hasn't been a living room for a long time. I'm worried about Berlin. Do you really want to put yourself through that? Or isn't that one of the demands of nursing care, where you have to give in? Not go?

Mr. Räther came over today. They took the upper Philharmonic Hall for your lectures; but since it was not available all the time, they took another one as well. They are counting on a lot of visitors. The theater rental was only finalized the day before yesterday; it was terribly difficult to get a theater. In the end, they got the Lessing Theater for two matinees. Sachs and Wolff took over the matter. So this time we run the risk of being stuck with a bad audience.¹⁷

I have great pain over tomorrow's program. Due to Donath's absence, it is deeply unsatisfactory. Today's went well because we were still able to organize it for the last performance in Dornach, which you did not attend. But the second program, the “public” one, is thoroughly inadequate. What we tried at the so-called dress rehearsal on Monday before leaving does not hold up. You can't risk “Erlkönigs Tochter” ¹⁸ with Resi ¹⁹. This means that our piece de r&sistance has been dropped.

In the first part, the replacement numbers were not so that they seemed like inner necessities, but rather patched up.

Since it must now become our travel program, I will try to improve it by adding Steffen's “Autumn”. I don't yet know whether it can get such a favorable place as in the Michaeli program. Today's performance seems to have been very well received. I did not go to the religious events ^{of the 20} This time I did not go to keep my strength together.

The autumn air has not harmed me so far. On the contrary, it has relieved the tickle in my throat that started on the first day of heating in the carpentry workshop and intensified in the dreadful Stuttgart heating. The car is extremely comfortable for long journeys; the way you can open it up, leaving the glass panes inside, means you are very protected, actually have pleasantly moving air around you, your neck is firmly supported, without dancing pillows, on the high backrest, and you have recovered again. The open-top car journey is actually the perfect cure for me: -— But Meyer ²¹ has caught a cold. He has a great track record and has proven himself on long journeys, not even wanting to eat properly before arriving so as not to become drowsy. But he apparently does not yet have the experience of how to dress for such long trips. He left his woolen clothes in Villa Hansi, and he also lacks a warm vest under his leather coat. Miss Clason ²² will get him such things tomorrow. He was at the performance today and told us afterwards that he had a severe sore throat. We sent him to bed and gave him W.S. Oxyd to gargle with. He has a fever and if he still has a fever tomorrow, we will call a young anthroposophical doctor. Now Clason is bringing him lime blossom tea. He hopes to be well again tomorrow. But we will keep him in bed.

Räther hopes – since it could go through Sachs and Wolff – to still get rid of the official halls for your lectures if you don't come, but he would have to find out now. He was very concerned about how people who want to come should find out. I suggested that it should be included in the next Mitteilungen ²³ and then again.

Surely the Philharmonie concert hall would still be too exhausting

for you? If you can't help but work in bed, wouldn't some forms for poems be a pleasant change? The artistic is, after all, one of your vital elements. But I don't want anything if it's an effort that somehow drains my strength. Only if it comes easily to you. In that case, I would like to have given some poems. In the new edition of “Wegzehrung” ²⁴ For example, the following are available: Page 27 - 32 - 19 - 113 112 - 108 - 91 - 89 - 88. Mackenzie ²⁵ I could send you a copy of the new edition right away. - I would very much like to have some of Morgenstern's strong poems, - perhaps I can look them up in Barmen at Mrs. Wittenstein's. And then I would copy out some Christmas verses by Rudolf Steiner from my booklet and send them if Berlin really is canceled and this work is not too strenuous.

Monday morning,

Clason goes to the post office and I close with the warmest wishes and greetings, and thanks for the letters. Meyer has already skipped out on getting out of bed. Clason couldn't find him.

Much love and hope, Marie

Samyslowa ²⁶ is certainly very talented. But since we couldn't practice a single day off in Stuttgart, I can hardly risk anything with her. Savitch would very much like to do Oberon in ²⁷ Since she would certainly do it best, the tall stature need not be an obstacle, must it? She is so flexible. Then I could probably do without Donath.

Here is a verse:

Isis Sophia ²⁸
The God's wisdom,
She has killed Lucifer
And on the wings of the world's forces
In the expanse of space.
Christ-Will
Working in man,
It will snatch Lucifer
And on the boats of spiritual knowledge
In human souls resurrect
Isis Sophia
The God's Wisdom.

Christmas 1920.

• 17. Refers to the caustic Berlin theater critic Alfred Kerr (actually Kempner, 1867-1948).
• 18. poem by Herder, from Danish.
• 19. Therese Vorbeck, member since 1920, eurythmist.
• of the 20. th conference of the Christian Community in Hannover, during which a eurythmy performance took place.
• 21. Hugo Meyer (1905-1987), 1922-1923 laboratory assistant at the International Laboratories AG Arlesheim, then chauffeur of the Clinical-Therapeutic Institute of Dr. Ita Wegman, and finally chauffeur to the board of the Society.
• 22. Louise Clason (1873-1954), painter, member of the Berlin branch since 1908. Contributor to the Munich Festival 1909-1913. In Dornach, she was involved in painting the small dome of the first Goetheanum. She later managed the eurythmy wardrobe. Marie Steiner's traveling companion.
• 23. Also called Nachrichten: “What is happening in the Anthroposophical Society. News for its members”, since January 1924 a supplement to the weekly “Das Goetheanum”.
• 24. poetry collections by Albert Steffen.
• 25. Miss Isie Mackenzie (died 1946), heard Rudolf Steiner for the first time in Leipzig, where she studied singing, 1909 Member of the Berlin branch. 'Later, she was the head of the bookshop at the Goetheanum for many years.
• 26. Olga Samyslowa (1895-1989), eurythmist, founder and director of the first eurythmy school in Hamburg.
• 27. Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
• 28. To draw a eurythmy form for it, (text in GA 40, form in GA K23/I).

203

To Marie Steiner on her eurythmy travels
Wednesday, October 8, 1924

Goetheanum, October 8, 1924 My dear Mouse,

In spite of all your difficulties, I am truly glad that you like the car journey. May it continue like this and Meyer won't cause any more trouble; as I told you, he is quite difficult in some ways. But if you take him right, you can get anything out of him.

The accident involving Donath is naturally a great worry to you. But what can be done now? I can now find out from Mrs. Wegman whether she can travel separately. But my journey has to be abandoned. That is now definite. And Donath cannot travel alone. Or should someone be sent with her? In any case, I will find out how she really is and then write to you immediately. I myself have been so exhausted that I haven't been able to take proper care of the poor woman, who is doing better in general.

I was really annoyed that I had to cancel everything in Berlin; but when I see the halls in which I was supposed to speak, I tell myself that it would have been impossible under any circumstances. I had thought of a few days at the most intimate events; but that is certainly not possible either, since all travel is impossible.

Here, too, all lectures have to remain canceled until further notice.

I am sending the Christmas saying [Isis Sophia] with this; I will now take Steffen and see if I can make something out of one or other of the things you have given me. I am now lying here and am even supposed to move as little as possible because of my hips – so I have to lie still and horizontal: it makes me more and more clumsy. But everything is getting better and we seem to be making progress.

I follow your journey with the best of thoughts and send you some from the bottom of my heart too. Rudolf

Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Dornach near Basel
Goetheanum, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland

220

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Friday, October 24, 1924, from Berlin

Friday evening, October 24, 1924

Dear E., thank you very much for your long letter, which I hope did not take too much effort on your part, and for all your contributions. Now we have everything we need for the Johannisnachtstraum, even more, because we won't have enough time for the scenes with Zettel ³⁹. We will save that for when we work with the actors. Incidentally, not much is missing now to complete the ghost scenes. And I thought that since you now know what you want yourself, you might like me to send you all the scenes in which something is still missing. I am attaching them here. I have indicated the pages and marked the places where something still needs to be done. What is left mostly refers to the adventures of the Athenians. I have also left that out in the speeches that we are now presenting. But that would be necessary if we were to work together with the actors. So I am sending them to you in any case for you to review.

Now our first matinee is behind us. It went extremely well, and there was no sign of any negative sentiment – only applause. What the press will say could be different. They say there was a scathing article in the Berliner Tageblatt on Friday. In any case, it had no effect on the matinee; the Lessing Theater was sold out and the audience was completely behind it.

In general, the press treated us well this time. Sometimes reluctantly, as in the Hamburger Nachrichten, but precisely because of that, it is said, it was impressive. Only I was occasionally scolded, or found poems useless. My voice obeyed me quite well on this trip. Only in the members' performance in Stuttgart was I a little embarrassed, and in the second performance in Hamburg I felt the cold from Lübeck a little. (Not yet in Lübeck itself.) The Kammerspiel Theater in Hamburg is also acoustically unfavorable; the Thalia Theater is very good. The Lessing Theater here is also acoustically favorable.

However, I now have a somewhat daunting task with the Johannisnacht scenes; after all, I have a few clumsy people for the choir and little time. Every day, I have rehearsals in addition to the performance, rehearsed the elf scenes, and that was a great effort. (We were allowed to stay at the Lessing Theater quite extensively.) Now this morning, before the matinee, I woke up with a severe migraine and foaming at the mouth. But since that was already happening at 5 a.m., I was able to get myself together until 11:30, and nobody noticed anything. But talking to people is also what unsettles me, I hardly have the strength for it anymore. So unfortunately I couldn't fulfill your wish to participate actively in the conference. Yesterday I had too much to do with the two rehearsals, and today I have to make a considerable effort to keep myself going. Tomorrow I have to rehearse a lot: the Michaeli program for Tuesday and Wednesday, and the new one.

3rd Nov.

Dear E., it's terrible: I wanted to write you a long, detailed letter and not just ask for forms, so I didn't send this and the texts already put in an envelope. Every time I sat down to write, I was called away, and I got so caught up in the whirlwind that I no longer had control over myself. I was unable to attend any lectures. But I experienced all too much that was human and social. So I must speak of gratitude and good fortune that the performance went well yesterday. It was received with enthusiasm. I firmly believe that your thoughts helped us. It was a daring undertaking. — I also wanted to collect reviews for you and couldn't manage it. Tomorrow morning we'll continue our journey and today there is still so much to be done. So I have to close so that this letter can be sent. I couldn't write another one anyway. Only more intensely and lovingly I want to think of you. It gave me courage when I received another letter from you yesterday before the performance, and I want to trust that you are feeling better. We have performances in Stuttgart on November 9 and 11. —- I received the first “Goetheanum” that came in the mail yesterday.

Warmest Marie

• 39. Was later performed at the Goetheanum, but not under Marie Steiner's direction.

221

Telegram from Dornachbrugg to Marie Steiner in Kassel
Postscript: recorded on 5/11 1924

Kind thoughts for further activity, here satisfying under the circumstances, sincerely Rudolf Steiner

222

To Rudolf Steiner in Dornach
Saturday, November 8, 1924

Nov. 8, 1924, Stuttgart

Dear E., Now we have arrived at our last stage, here in Stuttgart. Schuurmans have already gone to Dornach because of their move, and Stuten is taking care of the work with the musicians here. In Kassel we had an overcrowded hall (it holds 1000 people). Our ushers counted 50 people who were turned away. This astonished my dentist, for example, who said that the greatest artists now had empty halls. I also believe that if we had continued to travel as we did then, we would have become the current sensation or attraction. By the time of the next journey, we might have been forgotten again.

The journey from Kassel here was wonderful again. You have no idea what interesting places there are in Germany if you don't travel by car. We only have a lunch break, usually in a place where there is a beautiful cathedral. The other day it was Magdeburg. This time Fulda. It is a focal point of the highest interest - in terms of cultural history. I don't understand how people can come from there and never say anything about it. It is as if all the paths of German development lead back there. And geographically, it feels like the heart too. But now Catholicism is tightening its net there the strongest. I was interested in copying out the text of the indulgence offers at the grave of St. Boniface, which is posted there.

This was the longest trip Meyer had made. He learned as much on this journey as eurythmists do on their travels. He has become very safe and skillful. Today I have not seen him. What about him and the car now? Can I find out from you how we should all make our way home?

I wanted to stay here until the 14th or 15th to sort out various things at the Eurythmy School. I am almost afraid to come back to Dornach and perhaps tire you out. I think I have served you best through my work outside the School.

Now I have to go to rehearsal – we are staging the Oberon scenes with some choristers from here.

All my warmest regards. Hopefully you are already spending more time in an armchair than in bed. Frieda Noll ⁴⁰ She was lovely and caring and sweet to us.

Goodbye Marie

• 40. Frieda Noll (died 1963), involved in the re-establishment of the Kassel branch in January 1907, sister of Dr. Ludwig Noll.

223

To Marie Steiner in Stuttgart
Sunday, November 9, 1924

Goetheanum, November 9, 1924

M. l. M. I was very pleased to receive the telegram from Eisenberg,⁴¹ This indicates that Kassel was also a success. And I am grateful for your letters, which give me a picture of how you have endured the hard work.

I would like to send you these few lines to Stuttgart as a greeting of thoughts. You probably have your first performance there today. You can imagine that I am not at all satisfied with the very slow progress of my recovery. The matter has been in preparation for so long and will only start to take shape over a similarly long period of time. I thought I would be further along when you returned.

Among the books that I have now looked at – but in this case really only looked at – is “The Ecstatic Theater” by Emmel, with the letter from Dumont. The thing is interesting. But the whole book is just one scream, or at most two screams. One scream about the corruption of the present stage and another that it must become different. But shouting misery to the world and appealing to an instinctive ecstasy will not change anything. A bridge must be created to the understanding of the divine-cosmic in language, gesture and stage design, as it is striven for in my dramatic course. Yes, there is much to be done and it is necessary to be healthy for it.

The doctors were very happy to receive your greetings and send their warmest regards.

My very warmest thoughts, Rudolf

Dr. Rudolf Steiner
Goetheanum, Dornach near Basel
Switzerland, Canton Solothurn.

• 41. Dr. med. Otto Eisenberg (1886-1943), a general practitioner in Kassel, a homoeopath, member since November 1906, and brother-in-law of Dr. Ludwig Noll, with whom he prepared some remedies according to Rudolf Steiner. 41