Marie Steiner-von Sivers Some sources cite birthname as Marie von Sivers, Marie Sievers, or Marie von Sievers (14 March 1867 – 27 December 1948) was a Baltic German actress, the second wife of

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as ...

and one of his closest colleagues.Johannes Hemleben, ''Rudolf Steiner: A documentary biography'', Henry Goulden Ltd, 1975; , pp. 110-113 (German edition: Rowohlt Verlag, 1990, )Lía Tummer, ''Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy for Beginners'', Writers and Readers Publishing, 2001, , pp. 55-62; pp. 99-100; pp. 115-119. She made a great contribution to the development of

anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Follower ...

, particularly in her work on the renewal of the performing arts (

eurythmy Eurythmy is an expressive movement art originated by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with his wife, Marie, in the early 20th century. Primarily a performance art, it is also used in education, especially in Waldorf schools, and – as pa ...

, speech and drama), and the editing and publishing of Rudolf Steiner's

literary estate The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed w ...

Life and work

Marie Steiner-von Sivers was born to an aristocratic family in

Włocławek Włocławek (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Leslau) is a city located in central Poland along the Vistula (Wisła) River and is bordered by the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park. As of December 2021, the population of the city is 106,928. Lo ...

(then part of

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

). She was well-educated and was fluent in Russian, German, English, French and Italian. She studied theater and recitation with several teachers in Europe.

Relationship to Rudolf Steiner

Von Sivers "appeared one day" at one of

's early lectures in 1900. In the autumn of 1901, she posed the question to Steiner, "Would it be possible to create a spiritual movement based on European tradition and the impetus of Christ?" Rudolf Steiner later reported:

With this, I was given the opportunity to act in a way that I had only previously imagined. The question had been put to me, and now, according to spiritual laws, I could begin to answer it.

Steiner-von Sivers collaborated with Steiner for the rest of Steiner's life and carried his work beyond his death in 1925 until her own death in 1948. She accompanied him and helped him as secretary, translator, editor, and organizer of his lecture tours and other public activities. She assisted Steiner's work with her own resources and in 1908 founded the Philosophical-Theosophical Press (later Philosophical-Anthroposophical) to publish Steiner's work. On 24 December 1914, she married Rudolf Steiner. Anna Eunicke Steiner, Steiner's first wife, had died in 1911. Beginning in 1914, Steiner drew up a succession of wills naming Marie Steiner-von Sivers as heir to his entire work and property and his successor in the leadership of the anthroposophical movement.

Eurythmy and speech formation

Starting in 1912, Rudolf Steiner developed the art of

. With Steiner-von Sivers' guidance, it developed in three directions: as a stage art, as an integral part of Waldorf pedagogy, and as a therapeutic method. Under her tutelage, two schools of eurythmy were founded, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and in

Dornach : ''Dornach is also a quarter of the French city of Mulhouse and the Scots name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands, and Dòrnach is the Gaelic name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands.'' Dornach (Swiss German: ''Dornech'') is a municipality ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Steiner-von Sivers, who had been trained in

recitation A recitation in a general sense is the act of reciting from memory, or a formal reading of verse or other writing before an audience. Public recitation is the act of reciting a work of writing before an audience. Academic recitation In a ...

and

elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

, and made a study of purely artistic speaking. She gave introductory poetry recitals at Steiner's lectures and assisted him in the development of the four Mystery Dramas (1910–1913). With her help, Steiner conducted several speech and drama courses with the aim of raising these forms to the level of true art.

Politics

According to fellow Anthroposoph Hans Büchenbacher, Steiner-von Sivers was "completely pro-Nazi."

References

Biographical resources

*Marie Savitch, ''Marie Steiner-von Sivers: Fellow worker with Rudolf Steiner'', London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1967; . *Hans Peter van Manen, ''Marie Steiner: Her place in world karma'', London: Temple Lodge, 1995; . *Wilfried Hammacher, ''Marie Steiner: Lebensspuren einer Individualität'', Stuttgart: Verlag Freies Geistesleben, 1998 (German); .

External links

Biography
(German)

(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner-Von Sivers, Marie 1867 births 1948 deaths Baltic-German people People from Włocławek Anthroposophists Place of death missing