Bernd Alois Zimmermann

Bernd Alois Zimmermann, born in Bliesheim in 1918, is today undisputedly regarded as one of the most prominent composers of the second half of the 20th century. After studying music education at the Cologne University of Music, he worked as a freelance composer, writing radio play music and arrangements, mostly on commission from the Cologne stations of NWDR and WDR. From 1958, Zimmermann taught as a professor at the Cologne University of Music. He took on the challenges of a fundamental redefinition of musical language by the post-war avant-garde in a very personal way, often expanding the traditional concept of music. In 1965, his opera Die Soldaten (The Soldiers) premiered to great acclaim. Despite the horrendous difficulties of its musical and scenic realization, the work continues to be performed on the most prestigious stages worldwide to this day. On August 10, 1970, a few days after completing the ecclesiastical action Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht, das geschah unter der Sonne (I turned and saw all the injustice that was done under the sun), Zimmermann voluntarily took his own life.
Zimmermann's approach to the musical avant-garde was not easy. Not only did the composer have to free himself from the constraints of an artless and provincial environment, but it was his generation in particular that was most severely impaired in its creative development by the Second World War and the hardships of the post-war period. This volume documents the path of this artistic self-discovery on the basis of selected source material. Some of the earliest biographical evidence—letters and the diary Du und Ich und Ich und die Welt (You and I and I and the World)—is made available to the public for the first time. The volume is supplemented by a selection of Zimmermann's early essays and reviews, which have remained virtually unknown because they appeared in obscure publications, as well as an inventory of the music in the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Archive.

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