[1] After his Abitur in the special branch for music in Wernigerode, Hertel studied musicology in Halle from 1969 to 1973.

[2] Afterwards he was a master student for composition at the Academy of Arts, Berlin, with Siegfried Matthus.

His compositions were promoted by two Leipzig music publishers Peters and Deutscher Verlag für Musik [de].

[1] Hertel left East Germany in 1985 for artistic, cultural and political reasons;[1][4] he devoted himself primarily to the realisation of musical-scenic projects,[1] among them Cernunnos for 7 reed players, bulls and live electronics for the 1993 Donaueschinger Musiktage edition with the Experimentalstudio des SWR [de];[5] the opening installation for the 1996 Lucerne Festival aus der erde durch den wind – a mobile open-air music for various wind, vocal and bell ensembles and the sound transport of natural sound samples, and in 1999 the cartoon opera Das Biest des Monsieur Racine after Tomi Ungerer commissioned by the Theater Basel.

[3] He held teaching posts at music academies and drama schools among others in Hamburg, Bochum, Frankfurt and Munich.