Passionate Spirit

The extraordinary, headily artistic and intellectual story of composer, author and socialite Alma Mahler, a life lived against one of the most dramatic periods of world history. Born into fin de siècle Vienna, Alma Mahler was at the epicentre of Europe's cultural elite, living through the turbulent changes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Passionate and intelligent, Alma Mahler abandoned her ambition to be a composer to become the muse and nurturer to men of glittering genius. Gustav Mahler was her first husband; Gustav Klimt, her first kiss. Artists, architects, musicians, writers flocked to her side, beguiled by her beauty, enriched by her presence. Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Mann: all crossed her path. In Alma Mahler, Cate Haste has drawn extensively on early diaries, along with hitherto unexamined letters to and from friends, lovers and acquaintances. No work up until now has used this astonishingly rich insight into Alma's early character. What is revealed and brought to vivid, charismatic life is a brave, open and romantic woman, fiercely committed to her own freedom and independence, a woman who inspired great art and even greater love.