[1] His Historische Beschreibung der edlen Sing- und Klingkunst...von Anfang der Welt bis auf unserer Zeit (which in English means: Historical description of the noble art of singing and instrumental music ... from the beginning of the world until our time) was the first history of music written in Germany.
He had hardly any training before he enrolled in 1659 at the university of Altdorf, near Nuremberg,[3] where he learned the fundaments of music theory from Abdias Treu.
After the count's death in 1664 he accepted a position as cantor at the Sorau church, started a family and spent the next 52 years as a composer and musicologicist.
[clarification needed] Under Erdmann II of Promnitz he again took over the management of the court orchestra, until succeeded by the young Georg Philipp Telemann in 1704.
His musical oeuvre has largely disappeared, but his historical description still offers useful information on contemporary composers.