He was Kapellmeister in Lübeck from 1854 to 1856, then made a concert tour to Australia as a violin virtuoso together with his brother Karl, became Kapellmeister in 1864 at August Conradi's place at Wallner-Theater in Berlin and from 1876 to 1879 was the director of the Krollschen Theater, whose repertoire he refined by cultivating German and Italian operas.