from 1891 to 1897 mahler had a conducting post at hamburg. here there was an opera company of international standard. mahler soon became world famous. he conducted many operas as well as orchestral concerts. he conducted in london in 1892 and was invited back again but he did not accept because he wanted time to compose. he spent the summer months composing, writing his music down in short score (not showing the orchestration) and during the theatre season he would revise and orchestrate them. the performance of his second symphony in berlin in 1895 was a huge success.