Alma

Opera in 5 Acts
by
Ella Milch-Sheriff

Libretto by Ido Ricklin
German translation from the Hebrew by Anke Rauthmann

The story of Alma Mahler as never told before. She is known as the Wife, the Lover, and the Muse who inspired great artists. For years she was scorned and derided as "The Widow of the four Arts" but little is known of her bereavement. Little is told of the children that Alma bore to the four artists who loved her – and whom she tragically lost, one after the other. Who was the real Alma?

Synopsis:

Alma:

It’s not Werfel I want.
I want Alma Gropius in Werfel's arms.
I want Alma Mahler in Gropius' arms.
I want 20-year-old Alma Schindler, madly in-love with Mahler.

The 1935 Viennese aristocracy flocking to the funeral of a "princess" – Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler-Werfel and Walter Gropius, dead at 18. They are not moved by grief, but by curiosity and 'schadenfreude' at Alma's sorrow – "the wife of the four arts". But Alma is absent. Drunk and bitter, she is shut in her own house.

Anna, Alma's only remaining daughter, beckons her to go to the cemetery. Alma refuses – "She doesn’t attend funerals." In a bitter duet between mother and daughter, hostility and grudging between Alma and her "unloved" daughter from Gustav Mahler are exposed. In her despair, Alma calls out to Manon, her beloved dead daughter. Manon appears, and the three reminisce about Manon's life, in which high-society woman Alma destined her daughter as her successor – a muse for artists, a woman whose greatest singular talent is to evoke love and inspiration in men. Manon disowns the promise of this existence. Grieving Alma blames herself for killing Manon, just as she killed all her other children.

1919. Sixteen years earlier, Martin Gropius lies dead in a hospital bed, less than a year old. His mother, Alma Gropius, is absent. She is with her husband in Weimar, where he started the Bauhaus design school. The dead child Martin calls out to his mother and father, the latter of which is actually not Gropius. The real father is a young writer, Franz Werfel. Alma and Werfel's love affair is exposed – the boredom of her marriage with icy and distant Gropius, the passion for a young lover, the pregnancy, and the night in which passionate love-making almost caused the loss of her child. Martin was born healthy but later became ill. Guilt-tormented Alma abandoned her son. He died alone and was buried alone. The death of the child spells the end of her marriage to Gropius. Anna, watching from the sidelines, tells her mother of what is to come. Alma dotes on an earlier lover – painter Kokoschka.

1912. Seven years earlier Alma Mahler, a young and beautiful widow, meets rising star painter Oscar Kokoschka. He becomes obsessed with Alma and she becomes his muse, the theme of his paintings, and the subject of his wild passions. Vienna's art critics laud his work but Alma feels that she is losing herself, despite being immortalized in dozens of art works. Kokoschka's brutality and perversion scare her. She decides to abort his child. Furious Kokoschka retaliates with his "masterpiece" – a life-sized mannequin in Alma's image, which he tears to shreds in an angry fit. Alma, now free of the violent relationship with Kokoschka, admits missing him all her life. He is the one who saved her from a suffocating existence forced upon her in her marriage with Mahler.

1902. Ten years earlier, Alma Mahler is married to famous and successful composer-conductor Gustav Mahler. He rules the Vienna Opera House with an iron fist, as he does his wife. Her life is devoted to his welfare and happiness. On the surface, this is a woman's ideal life – a comfortable marriage to a successful husband with two little girls. However, Alma experiences prolonged depression following the two births. In a moment of despair, she wishes for her oldest daughter Maria, Mahler's favorite, to "cease to be". Her horrific wish comes true and young Maria dies of Diphtheria. Following the death of his child, Mahler falls ill and dies, disintegrating the family. Furious Anna blames her mother with Mahler's premature death and their family's collapse. With her family history illuminated, Anna summarizes her mother as a murderous, treacherous, and dangerous woman. She further prophesizes that Alma's life will become a series of funerals. Alma accepts the verdict – the worst funeral is already behind her and in front of us.

1901. The 22-year-old Alma Schindler is in love with Gustav Mahler. She is excited to tie her life with his – two artists, brought together by their love of music. She dreams of writing a great and unforgettable opera, to be conducted by Mahler himself. But he demands that she surrenders her career – there can be only one composer in the house. She must choose either Mahler or her music. Anna begs her not to surrender her soul's passion and predicts that life as "his wife" will destroy her soul and the lives of those dearest to her. Young Alma, bound to the norms into which she was born and raised, is prepared to "kill for her man". She lays down her sheets of music in a box and locks them in a metaphorical funeral ceremony for her spiritual children. Despite her grief over her lost art, she expresses hope that her life will be wonderful, overlaid with love and inspiration.

List of characters:

Alma Mahler-Gropius-Werfel-Schindler, 56-year-old and then becomes younger and younger – soprano

The children

Anna, Mahler’s daughter, 27-year-old throughout the whole opera – mezzo-soprano

Manon, Gropius' daughter, died of Polio, 18-year-old – soprano

Martin, Werfel's son, died of Hydrocephalus less than a year old – bass

Maria, Mahler's daughter, died of Diphtheria at the age of 5 – silent role

The men

Franz Werfel, 3rd husband, a writer – tenor

Walter Gropius, 2nd husband, architect – a dancer, not singing

Oscar Kokoschka, lover, painter – (bass-)baritone

Gustav Mahler, 1st husband, composer-conductor – bass-baritone

Mixed chorus

Men and women at the funeral, guests at the party at Alma's house, doctors and nurses, art critics, orchestra players

The libretto is inspired by Alma Mahler's biography but gives it a free interpretation.

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Ido Ricklin and Ella Milch-Sheriff