He was brought up in Nürnberg and had his first music lessons there. In 1669 he went to study at the university of Altdorf, but after a year he had to leave because his father could not afford to keep him. About a year later he went to study at the Gymnasium Poeticum in Regensburg. The directors of that school must have realized that he was an extremely talented musician, because they made an extra scholarship for him and allowed him to have special music lessons outside the school.