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Manon Gropius (1916-1935)
Alma´s third daughter
On 5th October 1916, Alma bore her husband Walter Gropius
a daughter who, from the very first moment, cast her spell
over everyone: »His mind, my body! The consummation
of us both must give rise to a demigod!«. Manon enchanted
all visitors: »She radiated timidity still more than
beauty, an angelic gazelle from heaven!« (Elias Canetti).
One evening in Venice in April 1934, she complained of an
excruciating headache and the doctor was called; within just
a few hours, she was paralysed. The cause was polio, and she
was seventeen years of age. Back in Vienna, the enchanting
Manon, who would have liked to become an actress, would sit
all dressed up in a wheelchair and be taken around the large
house on the Hohe Warte. She died very suddenly, on Easter Monday in 1935. In remembrance of Manon Gropius, Alban Berg composed
his violin concerto, dedicating it to »the memory of
an angel«.
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