Gustav Mahler studied at the Vienna Conservatoire with Robert Fuchs (1847-1927), among others, and privately with Anton Bruckner. After conducting posts at Bad Hall, Laibach, Olmütz, Vienna and Kassel he took the post of second conductor at the Deutsches Landestheater in Prague in 1885 and in 1886 took the same position in Leipzig where he directed the Leipzig Opera for half a year (standing in for Arthur Nikisch). In 1888 he became director of the Budapest Opera and in 1891 chief conductor at the Hamburg Stadttheater. In 1897 he worked as a guest conductor in Poland and Russia, among others. The very same year Mahler first became conductor, then director of the Vienna Court Opera which he led to artistic heights unattained until then. From 1898-1901 he also conducted the Philharmonic Concerts. In 1902 he married Alma Maria Schindler (Mahler-Werfel, Alma). In autumn 1907 Mahler became conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and in 1909 was also appointed musical director of the New York Philharmonic Society. He died in 1911.