If you want to know who Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel really was, you’d better not be expecting a straight answer. Some would say wife; others would say widow. Others still would say lover, mother, monster, muse, composer, writer, anti-Semite, or even alcoholic. It just depends who you’re asking. Alma was, if nothing else, an enigma.

Her greatest claim to fame was her impressive circle of celebrity friends. Her marriages to Gustav Mahler, Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius, and writer, poet and playwright Franz Werfel were the tip of the iceberg. She was close with many of the creative male minds of Europe, including Schoenberg, Berg and Bruno Walter. A fair few were lovers, too. A comprehensive survey of Alma’s ‘men’ can be found in the preface to Oliver Hilmes’ aptly titled biography, Malevolent Muse.

Alma MahlerAlma Mahler

It’s a dangerous trap – not to mention grossly misogynistic – to measure a woman by the calibre of the men in her life. Strangely, Alma probably wouldn’t have minded. She made it her life mission to surround herself with important men: to nourish and support artistic careers, and be their guiding light. Her torrid affair...