Alma Mahler

Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler (c. 1902).
Born	Alma Maria Schindler 31 August 1879 Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died	11 December 1964(1964-12-11) (aged 85) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	Austrian American
Occupation	Composer, socialite
Spouse(s)	Gustav Mahler (1902–1911: his death) Walter Gropius (1915–1920: divorced) Franz Werfel (1929–1945: his death)
Children	María Mahler, Anna Mahler, Manon Gropius, Martin Johannes Gropius

Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel (born Alma Maria Schindler; 31 August 1879 – 11 December 1964) was a Viennese-born composer and socialite. She became the wife, successively, of composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, and novelist Franz Werfel, as well as the consort of several other prominent men, notably painter Oskar Kokoschka. Musically active from her teens, she was the composer of at least seventeen songs for voice and piano. In later years her salon became part of the artistic scene, first in Vienna, then in Los Angeles.

Alma Schindler was born in Vienna, Austria (then Austria-Hungary), to the landscape painter Emil Jakob Schindler and his wife Anna Bergen (1857–1938), in 1879. Although later in life Mahler characterized her upbringing as privileged, the family is said to have been only moderately successful. After her father's death (1892), her mother married her late husband's former pupil, Carl Moll, who was a co-founder of the Vienna Secession.

Alma's social interactions in her youth included friendships with the artists of the Vienna Secession, among them Gustav Klimt. As a young woman she had a series of flirtations, including Gustav Klimt, theater director Max Burckhard and composer Alexander von Zemlinsky.

On 9 March 1902 she married Gustav Mahler, who was nineteen years her senior and the director of the Vienna Court Opera. With him she had two daughters, Maria Anna (1902–1907), who died of scarlet fever or diphtheria, and Anna (1904–1988), who became a sculptor. The terms of Alma's marriage with Gustav were that she would abandon her own interest in composing. Artistically stifled herself, she embraced her role as a loving wife and supporter of Gustav's music, together regularly attending the salon of Adele Bloch-Bauer (Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I).