mahler’s first job as a conductor was at bad hall in upper austria. the small opera company there was not very good and the music they sang was just light operetta. mahler soon found another job at laibach (now called ljubljana). they sang better music there, but he only stayed one year. his next job was in olmütz (now called olomouc). the standard of singing was not very good, but mahler was very strict. although the singers did not like him at first he helped them to become better. then he got a job in kassel, but he had to conduct a lot of operettas. he had an unhappy love affair with one of the singers. this inspired him to write a collection of orchestral songs "lieder eines fahrenden gesellen" and he started his first symphony.