He was twenty years old when his father's animosity was conquered and he was allowed to live in Dessau to study organ playing under Friedrich Schneider.
The first book of songs was warmly praised by Liszt and Schumann, and the latter wrote a lengthy review of it in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and later published it separately as well.
His future was then provided for by Franz Liszt, Joseph Joachim and others, who gave him the receipts of a concert tour amounting to some 100,000 marks.
Supposedly, he discovered a park surrounding Schloss Witzthun where young trees were being protected from their supporting poles by paper instead of the customary cloth or leather.
[4] In addition to songs, he set the 117th Psalm for double choir and wrote and a four-part Kyrie; he also edited Emanuele d'Astorga's Stabat Mater and Francesco Durante's Magnificat.