Career
Originally a student of economics at the University of Leipzig, he switched to music under the influence of Karl Straube, and became a choirmaster and organist at the Saint Trinitatis church in Leipzig in 1930, continuing his work there for forty years. He started teaching organ and conducting at the conservatory in 1935. He was drafted as a soldier in 1940, and ended the war as an United States prisoner of war, before returning to Leipzig and the university.