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Going back to 1898, When Richter resigned as head of the Vienna Philharmonic subscription concerts, the governing committee unanimously chose Mahler as his successor. However, the anti-semitic press wondered if, as a non-German, Mahler would be capable of "defending" German music, whatever the hell that means....
Attendances rose sharply in Mahler's first season, but members of the orchestra were particularly resentful of his habit of re-scoring acknowledged masterpieces, and of his scheduling of extra rehearsals for works with which they were thoroughly familiar.
The orchestra tried to have Richter reinstated for the 1899 season but failed, because Richter was not interested. Mahler's position was weakened when, in 1900, he took the orchestra to Paris to play at the Exposition Universelle. The Paris concerts were poorly attended and lost money--Mahler had to borrow the orchestra's fare home from the Rothschilds.In April 1901, obstructed by the return of very bad health, as well as exhausted by more battles with the orchestra, Mahler gladly gave up the Philharmonic concerts conductorship. In his three seasons he had performed 80 different works.
And despite of several great moments in the Opera, Mahler's Vienna years were always turbulent; he had conflicts with singers and directors of the opera the entire time he was there.
In December 1903 Mahler faced a revolt by stagehands, whose demands for better conditions he rejected in the belief that extremists were manipulating his staff. There were strong anti-semitic elements in Viennese society (perhaps going as high as the Royal Hapsburg family?) who for a very long time had been opposed to any of Mahler's successes; they attacked him relentlessly.
1907 instituted a press campaign designed to get rid of him, at which point he was battling with the opera administration about how much time he was involved in composing his own music.
In May 1907 he started talking with the director of the New York Metropolitan Opera, signing a contract on the first day of summer 1907 as conductor for four seasons in New York City.
At the end of the summer he submitted his resignation to the Hofoper. One of his very last performances there, of 645 performances in toto, was Beethoven's Fidelio.
"During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler had brought new life to the opera house and cleared its debts, but had won few friends--it was said that he treated his musicians in the way a lion tamer treated his animals. His departing message to the company, which he pinned to a notice board, was later torn down and scattered over the floor.
"After conducting the Hofoper orchestra in a farewell concert performance of his Second Symphony on 24 November, Mahler left Vienna for New York in early December."
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From Bill Breakstone's brilliant and still moving 2009 article on Mahler:
This was Mahler's last concert. After weeks confined to bed he was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis, a disease to which sufferers from defective heart valves were particularly prone and could be fatal. Mahler did not give up hope; he talked of resuming the concert season, and took a keen interest when one of Alma's compositions was sung at a public recital by the soprano Frances Alda, on 3 March.
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