ABSTRACT
In his essay, ‘Theatrical experiences and personal investigations’ Appia describes the overwhelming importance that his first encounter with Dalcroze’s system of musical gymnastics, eurhythmics, had for all his subsequent work. It enabled him to extend the application of his theories for reform beyond Wagner’s operas into other works of music-drama, and later to suggest entirely new forms of theatrical art. In his earlier writings Appia had proposed that stage movement should be dictated by the music, although he had not yet determined any formal means whereby this musically motivated movement was to be controlled and measured in space.
