Wrote numerous choral works, songs, sonatas, chamber music, and symphonic works, primarily in the German Late Romantic Style. One of his most well known works is the Sonata for Flute and Piano, which he wrote in 1964.
He graduated from the Vienna Academy of Music in 1928. He studied with Franz Schmidt, a Composer of great renown.
He immigrated to the U.S. in 1938 to escape the Nazi regime in spite of his popularity in Austria.
His father Balduin worked as the music critic for Vienna newspaper Volkszeitung, while his mother was a concert singer and Pianist. She was also his first music Teacher. He fathered two daughters with his wife Donna Gibbs.
He was offered "honorary Aryan status" by Adolf Hitler, provided he would swear allegiance to the Nazi Party. He declined.
