Celebrating the centenary of Maria Schüppel's birth

The purpose of the project to create performances of the "Children of Lir" was to prepare musically and artistically for the centenary of Maria Schüppel's birth in 2023. This musical work is about a spiritual journey and contains many symbols of Celtic culture and Christianity in Ireland.  The target audience was children and adults. The project was led by four music and singing therapists: Marcela Paz Moreno, Eva Rüdiger, Irina Welsch, and Kristin Kannenberg. They were supported by other musicians, who played soprano lyre, alto lyre, flutes, tenor flute, bass flute, and tubular bells. The concert was offered in three locations in Hamburg, Germany.  The first concert took place on 4th November at the Franziskus living community, where only the music was performed, and the second was on 15th November at the Alfred Schnittke Akademie. Finally, on 18th November 2022, we were allowed to play for the first through fourth grade children at the Christian Morgenstern Waldorf School. The concert was accompanied by the actress Mavila Cubas and the theater company La Semilla. The story was told with small paper puppets designed by Daniela Cubas Boue. The text passages were read by Gisela Truetzschler and Eva Niemeyer.

Maria Schuppel

In a 2018 music therapy newsletter, Andrea Stückert gave a brief biography as follows: ‘Maria Schüppel worked in Weimar after the war between 1946 and 1949. She was the director of the children's choir of the state-certified private music teachers, which performed on several occasions for the children's radio of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. She was also able to present original compositions, movements, and arrangements, which included Thuringian folk songs and dances on the radio and performances of self-composed music on several stages in the Weimar area. It was during this time that she became acquainted with anthroposophy. It was a decisive event for her, because she suddenly had her own near-death experience during a July night in 1945, which was described and explained to her by Rudolf Steiner's writings.’

The post-war period has some parallels with our current situation with the Covid pandemic: Both represent a collective trauma. We had the experience in the Christian Morgenstern School that out of four classes, only three children had ever experienced a live concert. The children who are now in third grade had their first day of school in 2020 on a computer. Maria Schueppel's music aims to have a music-therapeutic effect and can therefore help to process the traumatic experiences of isolation and lack of relationship with society. Our initiative was intended to contribute to this therapeutic need.

It was a great experience to lead the "Children of Lir" concert. The music and the artistic production were very well received by the audience. We hope that this project will help to make anthroposophical art and music therapy better known to the public and that it will bring joy to many people. If anyone here in the USA is interested in supporting this initiative through a Waldorf school or individually, through playing lyre in the project, please contact me, Marcela Paz Moreno, at: info@marcelapaz-moreno.com