For Rilke, Elya Maria Nevar was the loyal friend of the heart during the late war years in Munich. He discovered her as a young actress playing the role of Princess Elya in a medieval Georg play, which was directed by her later husband, Max Gümbel-Seiling. Rilke attended all performances of this play without initially approaching her. She, in turn, identified with this role so much that she kept the name of the princess as her stage name instead of her original name "Else." In February 1918, both attended a lecture by Rudolf Steiner on the "Sensory-Super-sensory in its realization through art." Elya was enthusiastic and dedicated the rest of her life as a student of Rudolf Steiner to anthroposophy, while Rilke remained skeptical, as he confessed to his fellow poet Albert Steffen in a subsequent conversation. Still, there had been no personal encounter between them.