By the age of 20, he was singing at the electoral court in Dresden under Heinrich Schütz and composed some of the music for the Master's funeral.
After his appointment as assistant kapellmeister in Dresden in 1655, Bernhard made two sojourns to Italy to further his musical education.
The next ten years were a golden age in the musical tradition of Hamburg: Bernhard and his good friend Matthias Weckmann performed together and directed the latest compositions from Italy and Vienna, as well as composing an important collection of music in finely-wrought counterpoint.
Six years later, the large - and primarily Italian - musical establishment in the city was greatly reduced, until Bernhard remained the only kapellmeister at court.
Bernhard left behind many sacred vocal works, a few secular compositions, and three important treatises on music, the most famous of which is the Tractatus compositionis augmentatus (ca.