He began his conducting career in comparatively minor provincial cities, starting in 1880 as Second Conductor ("Zweiter Kapellmeister") in Zurich (Aktientheater), moving to Salzburg (k.k. Theater) in October 1881 as Principal Conductor ("Erster Kapellmeister"), where he served until April 1882. He then held appointments in Brünn (Stadttheater: October 1882 to June 1883) and Graz (1884–1886), where he married 21-year-old Anita Portugall on February 3, 1887. His first position in a major musical center came in Prague as Principal Conductor at Angelo Neumann's Deutsches Landestheater, starting with a performance of "Die Meistersinger" on August 15, 1886, and ending in June 1892. He also conducted Neumann's traveling opera company, appearing at Berlin and in 1888–1889 conducting Wagner's "Ring" cycle in Moscow and St. Petersburg. He left Prague to become principal conductor in October 1892 of the Berlin Court Opera (Kgl. Oper — today the Berlin State Opera, where he was appointed Chief Musical Director ("Kgl. preussischer Generalmusikdirector") on August 26, 1908. He remained in Berlin until 1912, conducting 1,071 performances of 103 operas. He also conducted the Royal Orchestra in concerts there.