Alma Mahler

Alma Maria Mahler-Werfel (born Schindler) (August 31, 1879 – December 11, 1964) was a Viennese-born socialite well known in her youth for her beauty and vivacity. 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 in addition. Musically active in her teens, she was the composer of at least seventeen songs. In later years her salon became an important feature of the artistic scene, first in Vienna, then in Los Angeles. Born in Vienna, Austria, to the prominent landscape painter Emil Jakob Schindler and his wife Anna von Bergen, in 1879, Mahler-Werfel grew up in a privileged environment. 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. Mahler-Werfel's lively social interactions in her youth included friendships with the artists of the Secession, among them Gustav Klimt. As a... full article at wikipedia