German composer; b. Bliesheim, near Cologne, March 20, 1918; d. Königsdorf, Aug. 10, 1970. Zimmermann studied at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik and at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn until he was drafted for military service during World War II.

After his discharge, Zimmermann became a pupil of Heinrich Lemacher and Philip Jarnach in 1942, and later attended the summer courses in new music of Wolfgang Fortner and René Leibowitz in Darmstadt from 1948 to 1950. He taught theory at the University of Cologne from 1950 to 1952 and at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik from 1957 to 1970.

Plagued by failing eyesight and obsessed with notions of death, Zimmermann reflected these moods in his own music of the final period. His Requiem für einen jungen Dichter, a "lingual" for narrator, SOPRANO and BARITONE soloists, three choruses, tape, orchestra, JAZZ combo, and organ (1967-69) sets texts drawn from poems, articles, and news reports concerning poets who committed suicide. He killed himself less than a year after the premiere of this morbid score.

Zimmermanns idiom is mainly EXPRESSIONISTIC, with a melody line of anguished CHROMATICISM. In a sense, he realized the paths opened by ALBAN BERG. The opera Die Soldaten, based on a play by J.M.R. Lenz (1958-60; revised 1963-64), took the atmosphere of Berg's WOZZECK several steps further. The explicit presentation of the molestation of innocent civilians by the military brought on a critical and societal storm of protest.

Zimmermann maintained strong religious beliefs. Five days before his death he completed Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht das geschah unter der Sonne, an "ecclesiastical action" after Ecclesiastes and Dostoevsky, for two narrators, bass, and orchestra (1970), a moving final expression of hope. While in his lifetime he was primarily known to limited music circles in Germany, the significance of his music began to be realized after his death.