Gustav Mahler premieres his Symphony No. 1,…

Gustav Mahler premieres his Symphony No. 1, in Budapest, on November 20, 1889.

Mainly composed between late 1887 and March 1888, though it incorporates music Mahler had composed for previous works, it had been composed while Mahler was second conductor at the Leipzig Opera, Germany.

Although in his letters Mahler almost always refers to the work as a symphony, the first two performances describe it as a symphonic poem and as a tone poem in symphonic form respectively.

The work is premièred at the Vigadó Concert Hall, but is not well received.

Mahler will make some major revisions for the second performance, given at Hamburg in October 1893; further alterations will be made in the years prior to the first publication, in late 1898.

Some modern performances and recordings give the work the title Titan, despite the fact that Mahler  only used this label for the second and third performances, and never after the work had reached its definitive four-movement form in 1896.

Mahler will conduct more performances of this symphony than of any of his later works.