Alma Mahler - TIC Jihlava
Transcription
Alma Mahler - TIC Jihlava
© Penn Libraries © Penn Libraries EN 6 7 The Composer Alma Mahler-Werfel During her artistically active life Alma Mahler-Werfel composed or proposed more than one hundred songs, various instrumental works, and the beginning of an opera. Of these works only seventeen songs have been preserved. The other compositions were lost during W.W.II or were destroyed by Alma herself. Songs published in 1910, 1915, and 1924 have been preserved. In 2000 two more songs from her heritage were finally published. Germany 6 Alma Mahler after her marriage to Gustav Mahler 7 Alma Mahler around 1920 8 Alma Mahler with Franz Werfel in Egypt, 1930 on the title page: Alma Mahler in 1907 Poland Alma Mahler Prague Czech Republic Jihlava Brno Austria 8 © Penn Libraries Slovak Republic Issued by the Statutory Town of Jihlava in 2010, 2,500 copies printed. Photographs: Photographic archive of the Museum of the Highlands in Jihlava. http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/photos/mahler/ (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, title page) and from Liebste Justi (4) publication. Translation: Ing. Arch. Ivan Anděra. Graphic layout by Eva Bystrianská. Printed by Antonín Prchal PROTISK – Velké Meziříčí. House of Gustav Mahler Znojemská 4, 586 01 Jihlava tel.: +420 567 167 132, 133 e-mail: [email protected] Open: October–March: Tue–Sat 10–12, 13–18 April–September: Tue–Sun 10–12, 13–18 www.mahler.cz Alma/ANGLICKY/vnějšek © Penn Libraries © Penn Libraries 1 © Penn Libraries 2 Most beautiful girl in Vienna (1879–1901) Alma Schindler was born on August 31, 1879, in Vienna, the daughter of the outstanding landscape painter Emil Jakob Schindler and the Hamburg opera singer Anna Sofia Bergen, who after the death of her husband married the painter Carl Moll (1861–1945). Alma, raised in a cultivated environment, received a thorough musical education; her favourite composers comprised Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, and in particular Richard Wagner. Alma studied composing with an outstanding pedagogue, Alexander von Zemlinski, with whom she had a love affair. Under his leadership she composed a number of songs on themes of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, Heinrich Heine, and others. Life with Gustav Mahler (1901–1911) Without any doubt, the meeting of twenty-two-year-old Alma Schindler , considered the most beautiful girl in Vienna, with Gustav Mahler, who was nineteen years older, already a highly appreciated composer, director and conductor of Vienna Court Opera, was a fateful event. They met in November 1901, in December of the same year they became engaged, and the wedding took place on March 9, 1902, in Vienna. The marriage yielded two daughters, Marie Anna (1902–1907), whose early death grievously affecting both spouses, and Anna Justine (1904–1988), who became a sculptress. Almar/ANGLICKY/vnitřek 3 4 Alma felt lonely with Mahler, she used to spend most of her time in spas and apart from her husband, who suffered above all from her love affair with the young architect Walter Gropius. The revelation of the relationship was also reflected in Mahler’s Tenth symphony in F Sharp Major, which is filled with intimate passages. However, Alma accompanied her husband on journeys in the USA from 1907 to 1910. During the last trip around the USA Mahler fell ill. Alma travelled with him back to Europe. Gustav Mahler died on May 18, 1911, at the age of almost 51. Ups and downs (1911–1938) After Mahler’s death Alma Mahler was in the prime of life and, thanks to her widow’s pension and inheritance from Mahler, she was also a very well-off woman. She took care of Mahler’s musical heritage; in her Vienna salon she received musicians, conductors, and artists. She engaged in several love affairs (for instance, with the painter Oskar Kokoschka), before 1915, when she married for the second time to an architect Walter Gropius (1883–1969); together they produced a daughter, Manon, in 1916. In 1920 the marriage ended in divorce. Since 1919 Alma had been living with the poet and writer Franz Werfel (1890–1945), whom she married in 1929. The death of her daughter Manon in 1935 was very painful for Alma. Emigration (1938–1945) In 1938 Alma Mahler-Werfel together with Franz Werfel emigrated to France and in 1940 to the United States of America. They settled in Los Angeles, where many German and Austrian emigrants lived. There Werfel wrote his novel Song of Bernadetta, which became a bestseller. Alma continued to lead a rich social life. Franz Werfel died in 1945. La grande Veuve – “The Great Widow” (1945–1964) Thomas Mann called Alma Mahler-Werfel “la grande Veuve – the Great Widow” after the death of Franz Werfel. Besides Gustav Mahler’s heritage, Alma minded the heritage of Franz Werfel. In 1951 she moved to New York. There she worked on her autobiography, which was published under name of My Life and drew mixed reviews. Alma Mahler-Werfel died on December 11, 1964, at the age of 85 in New York and was buried next to her daughter Manon at Grinzing cemetery in Vienna. 1 2 3 4 5 Alma Schindler (left) and her stepsister Greta in 1891 G. Mahler with daughter Maria, Maiernigg 1905 Alma Mahler with daughters in 1906 Alma and Gustav Mahler, Toblach 1909–1910 Alma Mahler, 1920–1923 5