Marie Steiner

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Marie von Sivers 1903

Marie Steiner also Marie Steiner-von Sivers , née Marie von Sivers or Sievers, Siebers (born March 14, 1867 in Włocławek , Poland ; † December 27, 1948 in Beatenberg , Switzerland ) was a German-Baltic actress , theosophist and anthroposophist . She had Austrian citizenship and was the second wife of Rudolf Steiner , the founder of anthroposophy.

Live and act

Childhood and youth

Marie Steiner was born in what was then Congress Poland as one of eight children. The father, Jakob von Sivers (1813-1882), from the Livonian aristocratic family of German-Baltic origin von Sivers , was an officer in Russian service with the rank of lieutenant general and town commander of the place. The mother, Caroline Baum (1834–1912), came from a family from Neuwied in the Rhineland , which had settled in Arkhangelsk in northern Russia . Around 1874/75 the family moved to Riga due to a transfer of their father's service , and around 1877, after the father's retirement, another move to Saint Petersburg followed . There Marie attended a German private school, after which she followed one of her brothers to a run-down farm near Novgorod , where she worked as a teacher. In 1894 the brother died and Marie had to return to Saint Petersburg.

Turning to art

With financial support from her family, she studied recitation and acting at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1895 to 1897 ; She deepened this further after her return to St. Petersburg. In 1899 she received an offer to play at the Berlin Schillertheater , whereupon she moved to Germany. The tightness of the stage didn't appeal to her, however, and so she left the theater that same year. After getting to know and appreciate the works of Édouard Schuré , she contacted him in October 1900. A lively correspondence developed, and as a result Sivers translated several works by Schuré from French into German.

In the Theosophical Society

After a hint from Schuré, she joined the German Theosophical Society (DTG) in Berlin in November 1900 . In the same month she met Count Cay Lorenz von Brockdorff in the library , his wife Sophie Countess von Brockdorff and Rudolf Steiner , who had been giving lectures in these rooms since the end of September 1900. This encounter shaped her life from now on until her death in 1948. After Count Brockdorff had resigned from his position as head of the Berlin DTG lodge for reasons of age, Steiner became both a member of the DTG and the new head of the Berlin lodge, with Marie von Sivers as his secretary and “right hand”. When the German Section of the Theosophical Society (DSdTG) was founded on October 19, 1902 , Steiner took over the post of General Secretary, with Marie von Sivers as his secretary.

Marie Steiner (first row, 4 from left) next to Rudolf Steiner (5 from left) in the hall of the Munich Congress in 1907

From the beginning, Sivers worked closely with Steiner; It was she who, with her language skills, did most of the administrative and organizational work at the DSdTG and was thus largely responsible for its development. In addition, she organized Steiner's increasingly extensive lecture activities, conducted his related correspondence, accompanied him on many of his trips and was his interpreter. In order to be able to publish Steiner's numerous writings more easily, she founded the Philosophisch-Theosophischen Verlag in Berlin in 1908 . A major reason for founding the publishing house was that Steiner's works were becoming increasingly " esoteric " and publishers were hardly willing to publish them without restrictions. In 1913 the name was changed to Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag and in 1923 it was relocated to Dornach, Switzerland .

As a freemason

On January 24, 1905, Marie von Sivers was accepted into the Ordo Templi Orientis , together with Rudolf Steiner, a mixed-sex " irregular " Masonic system based on the Memphis Misraïm rite . The aim was to found their own Masonic Lodge, which accepted women and men. After it was founded, on January 3, 1906, Theodor Reuss gave her authorization to accept women herself. Shortly thereafter, she was appointed General Secretary for Adoption Boxes. In the summer of 1914 Steiner closed the lodge. They have not engaged in any other Masonic activities since then.

In the Anthroposophical Society

At the turn of the year 1912/13 the company separated from the Theosophical Society , Steiner constituted the Anthroposophical Society on February 3, 1913 , and Marie von Sivers took over its chairmanship alongside Carl Unger and Michael Bauer . In 1916 she gave up this post, following Steiner's advice, however. In December 1923 she became one of the five other board members of the newly founded Anthroposophical Society alongside Rudolf Steiner at the so-called “Christmas Conference” .

During a theosophical congress in Munich from May 18 to 21, 1907 , Steiner performed the Schuré work The Holy Drama of Eleusis, which was translated by Marie von Sivers ; other dramas by Schuré translated by her were played in the next few years. She played leading roles in the mystery dramas written by Steiner , which were premiered between 1910 and 1913, also in Munich.

On December 24, 1914, her and Steiner's marriage sealed their friendship, which had already existed for years; from now on she carried the name Marie Steiner - sometimes also referred to as Marie Steiner-von Sivers - and received Austrian citizenship.

As early as 1907, Marie von Sivers was involved in the development of what later became known as eurythmy , a new dance and movement art founded by Steiner and Lory Maier-Smits (the name, the Greek word for “uniformity”, goes back to her suggestion). From the end of 1914 she developed a special art of speaking for the performances . In 1919, after the end of the First World War , she traveled to several European countries, gave eurythmy performances and founded eurythmy schools. In addition, she held language formation courses and also devoted herself to dramaturgical work.

Von Sievers fell seriously ill repeatedly. From 1911, already suffering from burnout syndrome due to excessive work , she had to wear leg braces or use a wheelchair .

The Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration

After Rudolf Steiner's death on March 30, 1925, his widow managed his literary and artistic estate as heiress in his will. Above all, it is thanks to them that Steiner's work has been published unchanged and as a unit. The Rudolf Steiner Complete Edition now comprises well over 300 volumes. Marie Steiner herself edited over 500 publications and wrote introductions and explanations.

In order to continue the work she had started, Marie Steiner founded the Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration in 1943 , the association for the administration of the literary and artistic estate of Dr. Rudolf Steiner . It transferred all rights to Steiner's works to this institution on December 1, 1947, a project that had already led to disputes with the General Anthroposophical Society (AAG) from 1945 , which in turn registered rights to Steiner's works. The differences led to the split of the AAG in 1949, which was established in the Confederation as an anthroposophical association in Switzerland and which still exists today.

Marie Steiner and the art of speaking

Together with Rudolf Steiner, she developed a new art of speaking, “speech formation”. From the courses given together there are the notes Methodology and Essence of Speech Formation , The Art of Recitation and Declamation and Speech Formation and Dramatic Art . After the death of her husband, she played a key role in the unabridged performance of the whole Faust for the first time in 1938.

She worked hard to ensure that eurythmy was further developed and taught the actors on the Goetheanum stage how to create language. She developed a speaking choir art in the twenties and built up a speaking choir, which was admired and celebrated on its successful tours throughout Europe, as can be seen in the press of the time. "At that time, she put together an ensemble of actors and, together with them, shaped a speaking choir which, thanks to its elementary expressiveness and linguistic discipline, was considered unique and unrepeatable far beyond its time."

She gave her students H. Zuelzer-Ernst and Johann Wolfgang Ernst the right to continue running this language school. But in disputes about the estate, the Marie Steiner School for Speech Formation in Dornach was not tolerated and led an almost unnoticed shadowy existence on wanderings and in Malsch near Karlsruhe.

Works

Own writings

  • Aphorism about the art of recitation . The coming day, Stuttgart 1922
  • From the work of Marie Steiner. Collected essays (ed. By Edwin Froböse). Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration, Dornach 1951
  • Rudolf Steiner and the Arts. An essay from 1927 . Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration, Dornach 1961
  • Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy. Introductions and forewords to the first publications of Rudolf Steiner's works . (Collected Writings 1). Dornach 1967, ISBN 3-7274-5157-2
  • Poems - transmissions - aphorisms . Dornach 1969; 2. A. 1988, ISBN 3-7274-5233-1
  • Rudolf Steiner and the speaking arts. Eurythmy, Speech Formation and Dramatic Art. Collected essays and reports . Rudolf Steiner Verlag (Collected Writings 2), Dornach 1974, ISBN 3-7274-5169-6

Translations

  • Schuré : The children of Lucifer . Leipzig 1905
  • Schuré: The great initiates. Secret Doctrines of Religions . Leipzig 1909; Current edition: Anaconda, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-86647-027-4
  • Schuré: The Sanctuaries of the Orient. Egypt - Greece - Palestine . Leipzig 1912; Reprint Engel, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-927118-02-8
  • Solovjeff : poems . Dornach 1942; new in: Dornach 1969, ISBN 3-7274-5233-1

literature

  • Christian Bärtschi: Steiner-von Sivers, Marie. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Fred Poeppig: Marie Steiner. A life in the service of the rebirth of the word . Zbinden, Basel 1949
  • Marie Savitsch: Marie Steiner-von Sivers. Employee of Rudolf Steiner. Philosophical-Anthroposophical Publishing House, Dornach 1965
  • Edwin Froböse (ed.): Marie Steiner - Your way to the renewal of stage art through anthroposophy. A documentation . Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach 1973
  • Ilona Schubert: Self-experience in being together with Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner . Zbinden, Basel 1977, ISBN 3-85989-383-1
  • Edwin Froböse (ed.): From rehearsals with Marie Steiner. Recordings from members of the drama ensemble at the Goetheanum . Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach 1978, ISBN 3-7274-5196-3
  • Hella Wiesberger (ed.): Marie Steiner. Letters and documents mainly from the last year of her life . Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration, Dornach 1981, ISBN 3-7274-5206-4
  • Anna Samweber: From my life. Memories of Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-von Sivers . Die Pforte, Basel 1983, ISBN 3-85636-063-8
  • Conrad Schachenmann (ed.): Marie Steiner-von Sivers in the testimony of Tatiana Kisseleff, Johanna Mücke, Walter Abendroth , Ernst von Schenk . Die Pforte, Basel 1985, ISBN 3-85636-068-9
  • Dietrich Seybold: Marie Steiner-von Sivers . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 3, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 1750 f.
  • Hella Wiesberger (ed.): Marie Steiner-von Sivers, a life for anthroposophy. Biographical documentation in letters and documents, testimonies from Rudolf Steiner, Maria Strauch, Edouard Schuré and others . Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach 1988, ISBN 3-7274-5321-4
  • Wilfried Hammacher: Marie Steiner. Traces of life of an individuality . Free Spiritual Life, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-7725-1798-6
  • Memorial sheet for Marie Steiner. The Marie Steiner Verlag. An initiative . Marie Steiner Verlag, Unterlengenhardt 2004, ISBN 3-9808022-4-8
  • Peter Selg : Marie Steiner-von Sivers. Structure and future of Rudolf Steiner's work . Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2006, ISBN 3-7235-1278-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Zander: Rudolf Steiner. The biography. Piper, Munich 2011, p. 276.
  2. ↑ see also the normative data of the Nalass administration under GND 2019994-6
personal data
SURNAME Steiner, Marie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steiner-von Sivers, Marie (full name); Sivers, Marie von (maiden name); Siebers, Sievers
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Baltic actress, theosophist and anthroposophist
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Włocławek , Poland
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1948
Place of death Beatenberg , Switzerland