 He also was a composition student with Robert Kahn.Starting as a pianist, through the help of Fritz Busch, he became a conductor in the 1930s.He was conductor of the Nollendorfplatz Theater in Berlin from 1943 to 1945; in Hanover from 1945 to 1946; in Munich from 1946 to 1947; and the General Music Director of the Württemberg State Opera house (German "Staatstheater Stuttgart") in Stuttgart from 1947 until 1969.