according to recent research, tunder was born in lübeck, not in bannesdorf or burg on the island of fehmarn as was believed by earlier scholars. little is known about his early life other than that his talent was sufficient to allow him to be appointed as court organist to frederick iii, duke of holstein-gottorp in gottorf at the age of 18. a few years earlier, he had gone to italy in the company of johann heckelauer, and it is likely that he studied with girolamo frescobaldi while he was in florence. (johann mattheson asserted that he did, but this has been disputed by later scholars).