“Funeral? I don’t attend shows of that kind.” (Alma)

Act 1 – Manon
1935 at Grinzing cemetery. Vienna’s high society gathers for the funeral of Manon Gropius, daughter of Alma Mahler-Werfel and Walter Gropius, who died aged 18 after a serious illness. The absence of the grieving mother causes a scandal ... Anna Mahler, Alma’s only surviving child, tries to persuade her mother to go to Manon's funeral after all. Caught in her bitter and desperate state of mind Alma is just not able to. Filled with pain, Alma calls for her dead daughter, Manon appears as a revenant and looks back on her short life as the daughter of the famous ‘mistress of the four arts’.

“A monster-child.” (Alma)

Act 2 – Martin
Seventeen years earlier. On the eve of the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy Alma has grown tired of her marriage to Walter Gropius, her second husband. She begins an affair with poet Franz Werfel and gets pregnant. A passionate night of love in summer 1918 causes a premature birth; Alma's son Martin is born under very dramatic circumstances. While Alma keeps arguing with both men about who the father of the child is, Martin falls ill with dropsy and dies before his first birthday. 

“I know what genius is.” (Alma)

Act 3 – The Unborn 
1912. Alma is the widow of Gustav Mahler, who had died the year before. She is having an affair with the eccentric, obsessive artist Oskar Kokoschka. When Alma gets pregnant, Oskar, who is insanely jealous, believes that through this pregnancy can finally secure a legitimate place in Alma's life. Alma, however, decides to abort their child, and Oskar's madness takes him to new extremes: He commissions a life-sized doll to Alma's exact specifications; unlike his real lover he can now force the doll to succumb to his destructive love.  

“There’s a toxic fungus in my blood, in my milk. Everything that grows inside of me dies.” (Alma)

Act 4 – Maria
1902, world premiere of Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony in Krefeld. Alma, newly married to the composer, is expecting her first child. The concert is a huge success but back at the family estate in Maiernigg at Lake Wörthersee, the couples' first daughter Maria is born during a traumatic birth. While Gustav is completely absorbed in his new role as a father as well as in his music, Alma spirals into a deep depression. She yearns for writing music again like she once did. Caught up in despair, Alma gets pregnant with their second daughter Anna. In the summer of 1907, a catastrophe strikes: Little Maria dies of diphtheria. 

“You kill it with your bare hands – your soul.” (Anna)

Act 5 – Alma
Alma Schindler, considered to be “the most beautiful girl in Vienna”, dreams of becoming a famous composer. In 1901, she meets Gustav Mahler, then director of Vienna’s Court Opera. Soon a marriage with the man, who is 19 years her senior, is on the cards. Gustav insists that, should they marry, Alma must give up her ambitions as a composer and abandon her artistic work for good. He does not want to be married to a colleague. Alma is deeply hurt, struggles immensely, and finally gives in: she agrees to sacrifice her music for the sake of the potential she sees in her future life as Alma Mahler ...