Editing Gustav Mahler (section)

====Marriage, family, tragedy====
[[File:YoungAlmaMahler.jpg|thumb|upright|alt= Head and shoulders photo portrait of an attractive dark-haired young woman looking left with a thoughtful expression|[[Alma Schindler]], who married Mahler in 1902 (from 1902, possibly earlier)]]
During his second season in Vienna, Mahler acquired a spacious modern apartment on the Auenbruggergasse and built a summer villa on land he had acquired next to his new composing studio at Maiernigg.<ref name=Franklin7 /> In November 1901, he met [[Alma Mahler|Alma Schindler]], the stepdaughter of painter [[Carl Moll]], at a social gathering that included the theatre director [[Max Burckhard]].<ref name=DLG418>La Grange, Vol. 2, pp. 418–420</ref> Alma was not initially keen to meet Mahler, on account of "the scandals about him and every young woman who aspired to sing in opera."<ref>A. Mahler, pp. 3–5</ref> The two engaged in a lively disagreement about a ballet by [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]] (Alma was one of Zemlinsky's pupils), but agreed to meet at the Hofoper the following day.<ref name=DLG418 /> This meeting led to a rapid courtship; Mahler and Alma were married at a private ceremony on 9 March 1902. Alma was by then pregnant with her first child,<ref>La Grange, Vol. 2, pp. 487–489</ref> a daughter Maria Anna, who was born on 3 November 1902. A second daughter, [[Anna Mahler|Anna]], was born in 1904.<ref name=Sadie510 />

[[File:Emil Orlik Gustav Mahler 1902.jpg|thumb|left|upright|1902 portrait by [[Emil Orlík]]]]
Friends of the couple were surprised by the marriage and dubious of its wisdom. Burckhard called Mahler "that [[rachitic]] degenerate Jew", unworthy for such a good-looking girl of good family.<ref>La Grange, Vol. 2, p. 432</ref> On the other hand, Mahler's family considered Alma to be flirtatious, unreliable, and too fond of seeing young men fall for her charms.<ref>La Grange, Vol. 2, p. 442</ref> Mahler was by nature moody and authoritarian—Natalie Bauer-Lechner, his earlier partner, said that living with him was "like being on a boat that is ceaselessly rocked to and fro by the waves."<ref>Carr, p. 108</ref> Alma soon became resentful because of Mahler's insistence that there could only be one composer in the family and that she had given up her music studies to accommodate him. "The role of composer, the worker's role, falls to me, yours is that of a loving companion and understanding partner ... I'm asking a very great deal – and I can and may do so because I know what I have to give and will give in exchange."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/dec/02/alma-schindler-problem-gustav-mahler |title=The Alma Problem |last=Connolly |first=Sarah |date=2 December 2010 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=17 September 2019 |archive-date=26 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826035037/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/dec/02/alma-schindler-problem-gustav-mahler |url-status=live }}</ref> She wrote in her diary: "How hard it is to be so mercilessly deprived of&nbsp;... things closest to one's heart."<ref name=Carr143>Carr, pp. 143–144</ref> Mahler's requirement that their married life be organized around his creative activities imposed strains, and precipitated rebellion on Alma's part; the marriage was nevertheless marked at times by expressions of considerable passion, particularly from Mahler.{{refn|See, for example, the letters to Alma sent from Munich in 1910, the last of which begins: "My beloved, madly beloved Almschili! Believe me, I am sick with love!"<ref>A. Mahler, pp. 334–338</ref> Carr, however, notes the extent to which Alma Mahler edited and selected the letters which she published in her book ''Memories and Letters'', initially published in 1940.<ref>Carr, p. 107</ref>|group=n}}

In the summer of 1907 Mahler, exhausted from the effects of the campaign against him in Vienna, took his family to Maiernigg. Soon after their arrival both daughters fell ill with [[scarlet fever]] and [[diphtheria]]. Anna recovered, but after a fortnight's struggle Maria died on 12 July.<ref name=Franklin8>Franklin (8. Europe and New York, 1907–11)</ref> Immediately following this devastating loss, Mahler learned that his heart was defective, a diagnosis subsequently confirmed by a Vienna specialist, who ordered a curtailment of all forms of vigorous exercise. The extent to which Mahler's condition disabled him is unclear; Alma wrote of it as a virtual death sentence, though Mahler himself, in a letter written to her on 30 August 1907, said that he would be able to live a normal life, apart from avoiding over-fatigue.<ref>Carr, pp. 152–154</ref> The illness was, however, a further depressing factor.<ref name=B217>Blaukopf, p. 217</ref> Mahler and his family left Maiernigg and spent the rest of the summer at [[Schluderbach]].<ref>Stephen E. Hefling, Julian Rushton, ''Song of the Earth'' (2000), p. 30</ref> At the end of the summer the villa at Maiernigg was closed and never revisited.<ref name=B217/>
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