Burkhard studied at conservatories in Berne, Leipzig, Munich and Paris. He later taught at the Berne and Munich Conservatories. His early compositions were in a late-Romantic style, but he soon turned to the contrapuntal and imitative styles of the Renaissance and Bach to create works that can be likened to the styles of Hindemith and Bartók. He later turned to experimentation with 12-tone themes. His most important works are his oratorios Das Gesicht Jesajas (1935) and Das Jahr (1942). ~ Lynn Vought, Rovi