A prodigious talent, he produced a well-regarded treatment of 'Prometheus Unbound' in 1876, He attended the University of Leipzig as a student of philosophy, literature and natural science; one of his teachers was Gustav Fechner.
By his early twenties, he had produced an important work on the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, and become a personal acquaintance of Nietzsche, who had called him 'a veritable genius'.
Lipiner was 24 when he met the 20-year-old Mahler, and his views on various subjects (including the 'redemptive' qualities of artistic creation) came to influence the young composer to a considerable extent.
Lipiner features in the 'Recollections of Gustav Mahler' assembled by Natalie Bauer-Lechner — who seems also to have kept a similar record of his actions and conversations, though this is now lost.
As his creativity waned, Lipiner's reputation seems to have depended more and more upon his personal fascination as a 'bon viveur' and skilled improviser of the philosophical rhapsodies with which he would entertain his circle of illustrious acquaintances in Vienna.