Appendix to the Public Lectures
GA 85
15 December 1900, Berlin
Translated by Steiner Online Library
46. Memorial Address for Ludwig Jacobowski
[ 1 ] The literary evening organized yesterday by the Association for the Promotion of the Arts in the Citizens’ Hall of City Hall was dedicated to the Young Germany movement. Much passion and vigor, hard-won resignation, and a desperate pursuit of the spruce wreath of honor were on display there; we pay our respects to all six poets who were heard, even if not all received the prize! Roland Abramczyk opened the program with a fantastic ballad; Marie Louise Becker followed with two love songs brimming with longing, beside which the Symbolist poem about the little gray smoke man seemed rather obscure.
[ 2 ] Wilhelm Holzamer’s prose sketch, “Der Freier,” was characterized by magnificent, rustic, robust vividness; of his lyrical pieces, however, we were impressed only by the lush idyll about the shepherd. After an intermission, Hans Siebert from the Berlin Theater recited poems by Leonhard Wetzlar with compelling force, including the life-affirming popular songs. And then, following Hermann Kröpelin’s “Funeral Songs,” the evening concluded with a tribute to the memory of the unforgettable Ludwig Jacobowski. Dr. Rudolf Steiner addressed his friend with heartfelt words that emphasized his childlike simplicity of vision, his harmonious artistry, and the depth of his philosophical perspective—briefly illustrating these three elements in the poet’s soul through his works. Among the plans and drafts that occupied Jacobowski’s restless mind, mention was made, among other things, of a comprehensively conceived cosmic poem that was to be titled “Die Erde” (“The Earth”) and would come to fruition over the years. Miss Hedwig Reicher deepened the impression with an artistic recitation of a series of elegiac poems from Jacobowski’s most mature collection, “Leuchtende Tage” (“Shining Days”).
[ 3 ] Mr. Adolf Löwe and Miss I. Lovinson earned the gratitude of the audience through their diligently prepared and engaging recitations. But the spirit of Ludwig Jacobowski hovered over the entire atmospheric evening; he had inscribed these telling words in the manuscript of his one-act play Glück (Happiness), which he left behind to a friend:
It was like dying while I was living it.
It was a comfort to me while I was writing it;
Whoever has lived, like me, in the same anguish,
Let him accept it and cherish it.