After work and military service (1943–45) he enrolled in 1946 at the University of Cologne in the subject musicology, changed in 1947 to the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, where he studied composition with Wilhelm Maler [de], viola with Hermann Hirschfelder and choral conducting with Kurt Thomas.
After his examination as a choral conductor, he resumed his musicological studies at the University of Bonn in 1951, which he completed in 1957 with a dissertation on the "Chorische Choralbearungen von Joh.
After his retirement, he was a lecturer for music history at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln from 1994 to 2003.
With the Forum Musik und Tanz der Universität Bonn [de], which he himself founded in 1953, he undertook numerous concert tours in Europe and overseas.
His research focuses on the theory of musical forms and the works of J. S. Bach and L. van Beethoven.