In November of 1880, Gustav Mahler was living in Vienna and working on his cantata, Das Klagende Lied, which he was preparing to enter into the competition for the Beethoven Prize, open to former and present students of the Vienna Conservatory. The panel of judges included Hans Richter, the eminent director of the Imperial Opera; composer Carl Goldmark; Johannes Brahms and Joseph Hellmesberger, none of whom was particularly geared toward innovation in composition.
Mahler did not win and later said, "If the Conservatory jury had given me the Beethoven Prize of 600 gulden, my whole life would have taken a different course. I would not have had to go to Laibach and perhaps would have thus been spared the whole vile operatic career."
Laibach
In 1881-1882 Mahler had engagements at Laibach and Olmutz with small opera companies whose assets were woefully inadequate for a perfectionist like Gustav. The repertoire he put on included Gounod's Faust; Mozart's Die Zauberflote; Weber's Die Freischutz and Verdi's Il Trovatore, an ambitious undertaking for a small company with substandard soloists and a miniature orchestra. He stayed as long as he could and finally returned to Vienna, which felt like heaven to him after Olmutz.
Royal Prussian Court Theatre in Kassel
Thanks to the intervention of Karl Uberhorst, stage director at the Dresden Court Opera, Mahler secured the position of second conductor at the Royal Prussian Court Theatre in Kassel, Germany. Here he had at his disposal a chorus of thirty-eight, an orchestra of 49 and professional quality singers.The place however, soon became impossible for Mahler; the chief conductor did all the major works and Mahler was given second-rate operas to direct.
In 1884, Hans von Bulow, the famous conductor came to Kassel and Mahler wrote to him explaining the frustrasting and anti-semitic conditions he was working under and asked the master to take him on as a student. Bulow, for some reason ,sent the letter to Mahler's director, and the result was chaos. Mahler was forced to work out his contract and remain in what was to him an intolerable situation.
Prague and Leipsig
In 1885 the break from Kassel was finally made and Mahler turned his sights to Prague, where chief opera conductor Ludwig Slansky was amenable to sharing duties with his new associate. The first year saw him conducting Wagner and Beethoven and working happily in this new area. But Prague had been accepted only for a year. Mahler hadpreviously contracted to go to Leipsig, Germany, at the end of the season to take up duties as conductor with the famous Arthur Nikish.
In 1887, when Nikish became ill, Mahler was confronted with the task of conducting the entire season. How he managed to conduct 200 performances of 54 operas and have a steamy liaison with Marion Mathilde von Weber at the same time is beyond imagination.They planned to elope but the lady neglected to arrive at the rendevous. And that was the end of his affair with Marion.
The next stop for Mahler would be Budapest and more intrigue. He was 28 years old.
For further reading about Gustav Mahler see Gustav Mahler Gustav and Alma Mahler
Source
Mahler by Edward Seckerson, Omnibus Press, New York, 1982
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