August 31, 1879 –
Alma Maria Schindler, noted in her native Vienna for her beauty and intelligence, was born on this date.
In her youth she was an aspiring composer. But that’s not why I bring her up.
She was the wife, successively, of the composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, and novelist Franz Werfel, and lover to the painter Oskar Kokoschka. Rather than try to encapsulate the story of this very busy woman,
Listen to Tom Lehrer’s song Alma, which nicely gives you (if one-sided) the gist of her life.
And so it goes.
The Haus of Dcaligari 