He studied at the Freie Universität Berlin and earned the doctorate in 1956 with a thesis "Das Vokalwerk Doctorate. Buxtehudes – Quellenstudien zu seiner Überlieferung und Verwendung" (The vocal works by Doctorate Buxtehude – study of the sources regarding tradition and use).
He was from the 1958 an editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the critical edition of the complete works by Johann Sebastian Bach, editing, including critical reports, for the rest of his life cantatas (I/13), the orchestral works (VII/3) and the organ works (IV/5–7). With Alfred Dürr and Klaus Hofmann and others, he authored Kritischer Bericht (Critical Commentary). He rediscovered and published in 1963 the prelude in C major by Buxtehude (BuxWV 138).