When he finished his study at the Staatliche Akademie für Kirchen- und Schulmusik in Berlin he worked as a bandmaster from 1924.
When he retired from the film business he worked as a lecturer at different universities and he set words of famous writers like Erich Kästner und Bertold Brecht to music.
He continued his career as a filmcomposer after World War II.
From 1959 to 1971 he withdrew from film popular music to lecture at the Max Reinhardt Theatre and privately compose difficult atonal music.
He joined UFA as a silent film music conductor in 1928, and became head composer by 1931.