 His main studies were at the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied violin with Hans Becker, piano with Carl Beving, conducting with Arthur Nikisch before finishing with Eugène Ysaÿe in Brussels and then studying with Jacques Thibaud in France for two summers.Arthur Nikisch described him as ‘one of the most talented pupils the Leipzig Conservatory ever had’.He served as leader of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra and the Royal Opera Orchestra in Brussels before being appointed leader and assistant conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1915 and succeeding Leopold Auer at the Juilliard School in New York in 1930.