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Emile Jaques, born in Vienna of Swiss parentsin the summer 1865, was a fascinating individ-ual. By the turn of the century, he was alreadyknown for his music composition. Later, havingaltered his family name from Jaques to Jaques-Dalcroze (to better distinguish himself fromanother composer), he became known formuch more than his compositions. EmileJaques-Dalcroze developed into one of thegreatest educators in the 20th century.Many do not realize that Jaques-Dalcroze wasthe dominating influence in the world of dance,drama, and music from before World War I untilthe beginning of World War II. Through hisinternational schools in Dresden, Geneva, andNew York, his name became synonymous witheducation and performance in music, move-ment and dance, as well as dramatic stagingand lighting. Today, his influences on music,dance, and theatre run deep. In 1892, afterformal study at the Vienna conservatory under

Anton Bruckner and the Paris Conservatoryunder Gabriel Faur, he began his teachingcareer by accepting a post as Professor of Har-mony at the Conservatory in Geneva, Switzer-land. It was in Geneva, however, that he dis-covered teaching in a conservatory is not what

some would imagine.He observed that the background of youngconservatory students often consisted of visualskills; the students had learned to look andread, rather than listen and hear. In order tobridge this gap between visual and aural skills,Jaques-Dalcroze developed a most excitingand innovative approach to music teaching. Anapproach employed the human body as theprimary musical instrument. He developed thisnew approach into a method he called"Gynmastique Rythmique," and published itsfirst volumes in 1906.Jaques-Dalcroze's pedagogical ideas and tech-niques soon gained international attention. Hereceived an invitation to relocate to Germanyform Wolf Dohrn, who had attended a lecture-demonstration in Geneva. As a member of theWerkbund, an association united workmen,artists, and businessmen, Dohrn was planningan ideal community in Germany, near Dresden,with optimal conditions for work, health, educa-

tion, and the arts. The ideology was an early,positive form of planned communities in Ger-many. Dohrn saw Jaques-Dalcroze as an idealleader for the artistic life of his new community.Dalcroze would be responsible for both for theaesthetic recreation of the workers and theeducation of their children. For Jaques-Dalcroze, the invitation represented an oppor-tunity to have a campus designed and built tospecification; an educational program organ-ized according to his own judgment; vast po-tential for the implementation and developmentof his ideas; and a ten-year contract. He ac-cepted.In 1910 he resigned his position at the GenevaConservatory and moved to Dresden alongwith his wife, Maria-Arna Starace (professionalname Nina Faliero) and son, Gabriel. Soon hisgood friend and colleagueAdolphe Appia(1865-1929) joined them.By 1911, Jaques-Dalcroze was teaching in hisschool on the campus known as the Bildung-sanstalt Jaques-Dalcroze. The Hellerau cam-pus was the first of its kind in Europe and re-mains intact today. The united German Gov-ernment has restored the campus to it originalluster.

The campus consists of small cottages de-signed to house four or five students (completewith practice piano) as well as larger dormitorybuildings and housing for the teachers. In ad-

EMILE JAQUES-DALCROZEThe Man and His Method (Abridged)

byJohn R. Stevenson, DJD & Monica M. Dale, LJ-D

Hellerau CampusDresden, Germany, 1911as designed by Heinrich Tessenow

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dition, it includes such facilities as rehearsalrooms, a space for sunbathing and outdoorphysical exercises, baths, and a restaurant. Itformed part of a vast garden city, the first onthe European continent. In the center of thecomplex stands a huge main building designed

by Heinrich Tes-senow to resemblea Greek Temple,

complete with alarge Yin-Yangetched into theapex of the maincanopy.The "temple" wasoverwhelming in itsdesign and size.

At the dedication,architects as wellas theatrical pro-ducers and direc-tors came from all

over the world tomarvel at its glory.The building

houses 16 classrooms two floors around theperimeter, and in the center a massive per-formance hall, that seat over 700 people inmovable raked chairs. The hall also boasts anorchestra pit submerged in the stage that canbe completely covered. In addition, the stage

area has movable steps and platforms wherevarious levels can be designed and arrangedeasily. The walls are covered with an off-whitemuslin fabric, which conceals banks and banksof various colored electric lights that dim andbrighten. It is said that during performancesthe entire room would resonate with color mov-ing from a soft blue to a blinding yellow all inrelation to the music and the movement. Adol-

phe Appia, (1862-1928) the father of modernstage design and lighting techniques was re-sponsible for the lighting scheme and the stagedesign.The performance hall produced operas, Eu-rhythmics demonstrations, Plastique Anim(choreography) recitals, and instrumental andvocal performances of all types. Dancers, mu-sicians, and actors from all over the worldflocked to the school for the opportunity to workwith Jaques-Dalcroze and to perform in thiswondrous new space. Hellerau (on a high pla-teau) lit a beacon for Jaques-Dalcroze's work

that shone throughout Europe. Beyond servingas a resource for the community, the InstituteJaques-Dalcroze stimulated a continent of art-ists. Among those who ventured to Hellerauwere Max Reinhardt, Konstantin Stanislavsky,Ernest Bloch, Ernest Ansermet, Upton Sinclair,George Bernard Shaw, Paul Claudel, DariusMilhaud, Rudolph Laban, Hanya Holm, MaryWigman, and Marie Rambert. In these last

View From Hellerau

The Temple at Hellerau,Germany, 1912

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three names, we begin to see Jaques-Dalcroze's significant influence on dance aswell as music and drama. (See Dancers, Musi-cians, and Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics byMonica Dale).

When conditions caused by World War I forcedJaques-Dalcroze to leave Germany, he re-turned to Geneva where in 1915 he establishedthe Institut Jaques-Dalcroze.

Today the institute is still the internationalheadquarters for Jaques-Dalcroze Education,

and remains at the same location in a newlyrenovated facility provided by the Swiss gov-ernment. In 1916 and 1917, Jaques-Dalcrozeupdated his method books and renamed it

"Method Jaques-Dalcroze. By 1935, therewere six parts to the method totaling 25 vol-umes. These included exercises, musical ex-amples, and explicit drawings and photo-graphs. Today these texts are rare and consid-ered invaluable for the historically perspective

they provide; yet, none of these volumes is ofany practical use today.However, the texts of Jaques-Dalcroze do pro-vide proof that the "method" was then, as to-day, based on the Greek axiom "Music andmovement are one and the same." This axiomis the one idea that unites all Jaques-Dalcrozeeducators and yet distinguishes us from eachother.

Each of us, in our own way, is continuallystrives to interpret this axiom as it relates to ourown lives as musicians, teachers, scholars,and human beings. Having had the experienceof this axiom passed down to us from ourteachers with their interpretation at a specifictime, each of us in turn passes the experienceonto the next generation, with our own interpre-tation and in our own time.

The dynamic nature of the method makes itimpossible for textbooks to hold lasting valueacross time and culture. To capture its practi-cal applications in written form provides a re-source for a limited time and specific place,and then gives later generations a historical

perspective. It is for this reason that the 25volumes of Jaques-Dalcroze's method are his-torically valuable, but no longer practical.Except for two years of teaching in Paris, M.Jaques directed and taught at the Genevaschool until his death on July 1, 1950. In addi-tion to his method books, Jaques-Dalcroze wasa prolific composer of orchestral, instrumental,and chamber music, songs and operas. Healso authored countless articles on educationalphilosophy, which have been compiled intotexts. He gave lectures and demonstrationsthroughout Europe and yet, he never visited

America.

Today there are many more teacher-trainingcenters around the world: Australia, USA, Can-ada, Germany, Switzerland England, France,Holland, Poland, Spain, Italy, and Japan are

just a few countries where the tradition of theMethod Jaques-Dalcroze is honored and givencontemporary perspective to meet the needs oftoday's students.

The Grand Hall at Hellerau, Germany, 1912

The Instiut Jaques-Dalcroze Lobby, 1915

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