Born in Bad Schwalbach as the son of a medical officer, Frickhoeffer wanted to become a musician.
Not fully fit for service at the Western Front, he was used during his medical training to take care of wounded transports.
[3] In 1933 he took part in the festival Young Germany in Music, which was organised by the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur in Bad Pyrmont.
Then he followed Hans Rosbaud as chief conductor and head of the music department of the radio station from which the Hessischer Rundfunk emerged in 1945.
[4] In the post-war period in Germany, marginalized and not robustly inclined from the outset, Frickhoeffer had to endure difficult years.