Theorist and composer. He studied at the University of Heidelberg and took lessons with Johannes von Soest at the Palatine court chapel there, where he served as an alto, Kapellmeister, and chaplain. He was a singer at the Wurttemberg court chapel in Stuttgart (1506-7) and served as a succentor at Konstanz Cathedral (1507/8); in 1511 he was probably employed in Heidelberg. Virdung's treatise Musica getutscht (Basel, 1511) is the oldest printed manual on musical instruments. The first section of the treatise describes and classifies instrument families, the second addresses notation.