Hardenack Otto Conrad Zinck was a German-Danish composer. At the age of 5, the young Otto performed for King Frederick V of Denmark, and before he turned 12 his father had taught him to play violin, flute and piano. Until he was 19, he attended Latin school in Husum, Germany and traveled to Hamburg around the age of 21–22 where he sang in a church choir. He studied music, and sang under the guidance of music director Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who became his idol.