Bernd Zimmermann German composer. Date of Birth: 20.03.1918 Country: Germany

Biography of Bernd Zimmermann

Bernd Alois Zimmermann (German: Bernd Alois Zimmermann) was a German composer. He was born on March 20, 1918, in Erftstadt-Bliesheim, Germany, and passed away on August 10, 1970, in Frechen-Königsdorf. Zimmermann grew up in a rural area in Western Germany, within a Catholic environment. He attended a church school and developed a passion for the organ from an early age.

In 1938, Zimmermann enrolled at the Higher School of Music in Cologne, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. In 1940, he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht forces but did not participate in any military actions. Due to a severe skin condition, he was demobilized in 1942. Zimmermann received his diploma in music education in 1947, but he had already started his career as a composer, arranger, and music editor for radio since 1946.

From 1948 to 1950, Zimmermann attended summer courses on new music in Darmstadt, where he studied under René Leibowitz and Wolfgang Fortner. He became a fellow at the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome in 1957 and 1963. Starting from 1960, Zimmermann taught at the University of Music in Cologne. His musical style was influenced by neoclassicism, particularly the works of Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and late Arnold Schoenberg. He incorporated jazz rhythms, elements of light music, folk songs, children's rhymes, and quotations from musical classics ranging from the Franco-Flemish School to Gustav Mahler into his compositions.

Zimmermann gained recognition after the premiere of his opera "Die Soldaten" (The Soldiers) in 1965, which he wrote between 1958 and 1960. In this opera, he employed serial techniques to embody his concept of "spherical time." Another notable work that attracted public attention was his "Requiem für einen jungen Dichter" (Requiem for a Young Poet) in 1968, based on the poems of 20th-century poets who had taken their own lives.

Despite his innovative approach, Zimmermann's complex and tragic musical language failed to resonate with post-war audiences and critics. He struggled with his lack of recognition, which eventually led to deteriorating mental health and vision problems. A few days after completing his biblical composition based on the Book of Ecclesiastes, with the words "Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht, das geschah unter der Sonne" (And I turned, and saw all the oppression that is done under the sun), Zimmermann took his own life.