This talk discusses the life and works of composer Alma Mahler-Werfel, framing her within the shifting landscape of gender politics at the turn of the century in Vienna. As well as being a gifted composer, Mahler-Werfel was a skilled pianist, writer, entrepreneur, pioneer of the arts in the 20th century, and embodiment of the values of Viennese ‘New Womanhood’. Yet the academic scholarship and mainstream media have chosen instead to label her as a sex-hungry temptress, a femme fatale, and manipulative muse. Her compositions and contributions to the discourse of Mahler scholarship have been almost entirely overlooked as well as openly disparaged in the current scholarship. This talk offers a reconceptualization of Mahler-Werfel, not as an appendage to the period’s more famous men, but as an important musical, professional, and social figure at the turn of the century (and beyond). By situating her within the gendered discourse of the fin-de-siècle, I offer a chance to reframe not only Mahler-Werfel’s social and professional identity but also reconsider her compositions and their expressions of gender and sexuality in this transformative period of musical history. 

Speaker:

Dr Genevieve Robyn Arkle is Lecturer in Music History at King’s College London, specialising in 19th- and 20th-century Austrian and German music. She is a Co-Founder and Deputy Director of the Institute of Austrian and German Music Research and an Affiliate of the Black Opera Research Network, and has previously served on council for the Royal Musical Association, the Society for Music Analysis, and the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Music Studies Network. Her research has explored issues of musical hermeneutics and socio-cultural change in 19th- and 20th-Century Austrian and German music, focusing on the life and works of Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler. Her current work builds on this and examines issues of gender and sexuality in the musical cultures of fin-de siècle Vienna, specifically in the context of composer Alma Mahler-Werfel.