"ALMA" - monodrama

Music - Lyubomir Denev (father)

Libretto - Gergan Tsenov

Synopsis

Alma is haunted by the painful memory of the death of her beloved father, the hero of her childhood who had revealed to her the wonderful world of art and literature. After his death, her life is filled with unbearable loneliness and a sense of hopelessness. Alma's mother quickly remarries, which in the eyes of her young daughter is a terrible betrayal of her father's memory. Alma finds solace in music and literature, but her deep connection with her father and the artistic world that he introduces her to, continues to haunt her. She longs for a savior in the image of a passionate lover who would free her from the oppressive gray reality and carry her on Mephistopheles' chariot, as happens with her beloved Faust.

Alma's first love is the piano, to which she pours out her poetic soul day and night. Vienna – the city where she was born and lives – is in her eyes - a fairy-tale city, where she is praised as “the most beautiful girl in Vienna”. But one day, quite unexpectedly, young Alma is approached by a mysterious man who changes her heart and soul forever with a single passionate kiss. Despite this first fleeting love, Alma’s deep doubts about the world around her and herself, deepen and excited.

Fate pushes her to marry the famous composer Gustav Mahler. From the very beginning of their relationship, Alma's feelings for her husband are marked by deep hostility, as their life together very soon is revealed the vast and unbridgeable gulf between their two completely different souls. Gustav, despite his musical genius, remains deeply prejudiced against the creative aspirations of his much younger wife, and so, in the first years of their marriage, all of Alma's dreams wither under the unbearable weight of the marital duties imposed on her by Gustav. Alma's inconsolable grief deepens especially strongly after the tragic death of their first child, while at the same time, she begins to see in her husband's works a strange, almost supernatural premonition of the profound tragedy that awaits her in the future.

Alma begins to wait patiently. She waits for the next “savior” to lead her out of the impasse of her joyless family life, and this new savior appears in the face of the young and talented architect Walter Gropius. The love between him and Alma flares up instantly, and Alma feels free from the burden of her past; she no longer identifies herself solely as a wife or daughter, but as herself. The nights with Walter are filled with wild ecstasy, which helps Alma, at least for a short time, to break away from the heavy shackles of family life. Alma furiously and uncontrollably rides on Mephistopheles’ flying chariot – during the day she is an obedient wife, devoted to her brilliant husband, and at night she becomes the passionate mistress of her young savior. In the conditions of this double existence of hers, Alma still cannot completely free herself from the oppressive feeling of betrayal – not only towards her husband but also towards herself. This feeling is reinforced when one morning Gustav presents her with a letter from Walter, in which is described their secret infidelity. The shock of this revelation is as devastating for Alma herself as it is for Gustav and his fragile heart. Over the following months, she watches in horror as his health deteriorates with each passing day until one stormy night his heart finally stops. Alma bent over the calm face of the dead Gustav, remembers the words from one of his songs: "I rest in quiet villages! I live alone in my Paradise, in my love, in my song!"

Alma throws herself into a dizzying life of music, dancing, and champagne. The chariot races faster than ever. The “most beautiful girl in Vienna” has become the “most attractive widow in Vienna”, surrounded by new suitors and admirers. At this whirlwind moment, the young artist Oskar Kokoschka appears in her life. Scandalous and uncompromising genius, Oskar is her sweetest dream and darkest nightmare. His passion for Alma knows no bounds – he threatens to kill any man who dares to look at her and even threatens to kill her if she refuses to marry him. Their nights together are a hurricane of passionate pleasures, bordering on madness and chaos.

World War I breaks out. Alma is engulfed in a whirlwind of devastation – not only on the battlefield but also in her soul. Both the men she loves, Oscar and Walter, are seriously injured. Amid the war, Alma and Walter marry. They have a daughter, Manon, and Alma vows to do everything she can to give her the life and freedom she never had. Alma’s maternal devotion becomes a bright light in a dark and war-torn world.

Alma's life takes a dramatic turn when she meets the poet Franz Werfel - a charismatic and obsessive admirer, whose spontaneous declaration of love turns Alma's life upside down. Alma is torn between the memory of her late husband and the untamed passion of her body. In this yet another tumultuous relationship, Alma feels both exalted and humiliated. Once again in her life, she is a muse who sacrifices her creative ambitions. Alma's relationship with Franz takes a dramatic turn when she becomes pregnant by him, while still married to Walter. Still, in the seventh month of pregnancy, she and Franz spend a wild night together, in which, after unbearable pain and heavy bleeding, Alma suffers a miscarriage, as a result of which she gives birth to their prematurely born son Martin - a fragile, sickly child who, on the one hand, becomes her greatest hope, but on the other, a cause for deep guilt. Alma dreams that little Martin will one day compose symphonies, design buildings, or write novels. But instead, he dies, dooming his mother to endless grief.

The world around Alma is crumbling before her eyes. Europe is engulfed in violence and political chaos. The flames of revolutionary unrest are engulfing Germany and Austria, and Alma feverishly watches the rising tide of nationalism and cultural purification. Despite the general horror, Alma finds a strange appeal in the nationalist fervor, which in her eyes seems like an unceasing and unbridled Walpurgis Night. Against the backdrop of this apocalyptic picture, a new tragedy unfolds in Alma's personal life - her daughter from her marriage to Walter, Manon, begins to fall ill, and this once radiant child quickly turns into a pale, sickly young lady. Manon withdraws into herself, refusing to eat or speak, and her once carefree spirit is now consumed by the rapidly progressing disease. Soon her entire body is gripped by a severe and incurable paralysis. Despite all efforts to save her, Alma remains helpless in the face of the inexorable disease. Manon dies in hellish agony.

While the world around Alma is engulfed in the hellish flames of Nazism, and while the works of Gustav and Franz are burned in the squares of Germany and Austria, Alma decides that the only way out of this nightmarish reality is to escape. After crossing most of Southern Europe, Alma and her family reach the shores of America. The family settles in New York, where Alma and Franz are greeted by numerous admirers and old friends. But even here, the shadow of a dying Europe hangs over Alma, and very soon she and her family exchange the bustling New York for the quiet and peaceful California. There, she reopens her lavish salons, filled with music, dancing, and champagne, in a desperate attempt to forget the destruction across the ocean.

In the middle of the Californian paradise, Alma remembers how, during their escape from Europe, one day she and her companions found themselves in a small mountain village, where a local old woman told her the legend of Sister Bernadette, a young girl who, according to legend, received visions of the Virgin Mary. The story of the innocence and faith of the young Bernadette ignites a spark of hope in the heart of the fleeing Alma. That same night, in this godforsaken village, Alma dreams of a dark silhouette standing before Sister Bernadette's altar. As she approaches the mysterious shadow, Alma is horrified to recognize in it the features of her beloved Manon. Alma shares this dream with Franz, and in a moment of renewed hope, he promises her that if they manage to escape this nightmare unharmed, he will write a book about the holy girl. Already in California, Franz fulfills his promise and writes the novel "The Song of Bernadette", which enjoys enormous success. Franz continues to write, creating book after book, until one day he dies at his desk, exhausted and consumed by his work, leaving Alma all alone again.

Alma looks back on her long and painful life. She remembers the music she once composed and the dreams she had, but she realizes that this world of dreams and illusions has slipped away like sand between her fingers. She is completely alone. And just as she is about to utter the fatal words of Goethe's Faust, Alma hears a strange voice that reminds her of the contract she signed with the treacherous Mephistopheles. She also hears the voice of the cunning devil himself, who mocks her naive belief that the happiness and pleasures in her life can last forever. Alma hears around her the voices of the men she has lost - her father, Gustav, Walter, Oskar, Franz... Along with their names, she hears one last name - Alma.

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture