Heinz Werner Zimmermann (11 August 1930 – 25 January 2022) was a German composer, focused on contemporary sacred music. He was professor of composition at the

Spandauer Kirchenmusikschule The (Spandau school of church music) was a music academy in Spandau, Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1929, it was housed in the in Spandau and was closed in 1998. The schools choir appeared and recorded as the Spandauer Kantorei. It was located in ...

and the

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (, HfMDK) is a state Hochschule for music, theatre and dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938. At present around 900 studen ...

, and held several

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s from the

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in Clark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in southwestern Ohio along the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, about west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and northeast of ...

, U.S., and from

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. He is known for church music influenced by jazz, such as

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s for choir with plucked bass.

Life

Zimmermann was born in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and had his first composition instruction from 1946 to 1948 with

Julius Weismann Julius Weismann (26 December 1879 – 22 December 1950) was a German pianist, conductor, and composer.See LCCN. Biography Weismann was born in Freiburg im Breisgau. He studied with Josef Rheinberger and Ludwig Thuille. As a composer, he left ov ...

. He studied from 1950 to 1954 at the Kirchenmusikalisches Institut Heidelberg (Institute for Church Music) in Heidelberg, with

Wolfgang Fortner Wolfgang Fortner (12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a German composer, academic composition teacher and conductor. Life and career Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense ...

. After passing his examinations at the

Freiburg Conservatory Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, supervised by

Harald Genzmer Harald Genzmer (9 February 1909 – 16 December 2007) was a German composer of classical music and an academic. Biography The son of the legal historian , Genzmer was born in Blumenthal, near Kiel, Germany. He studied composition with Paul ...

, he became Fortner's successor in Heidelberg immediately. Here he maintained close contacts with the musicologist

Thrasybulos Georgiades Thrasybulos Georgios Georgiades (; Athens, 4 January 1907 – Munich, 15 March 1977) was a Greek musicologist, pianist, civil engineer and philosopher. He was for many years director of the Institute of Musicology at the Ludwig Maximilian Universi ...

, whose rhythm and language studies influenced him the most, along with his occupation with American

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with African Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences with the exp ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. From 1963 to 1976, Zimmermann was director of the

(Spandau school of church music) in

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...

, and then from 1975 to 1996 as successor to

Kurt Hessenberg Kurt Hessenberg (17 August 1908 – 17 June 1994) was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt. Life Kurt Hessenberg was born on 17 August 1908 in Frankfurt, as the fourth and last child o ...

as composition teacher at the

Personal life

Zimmermann was married to the organist Renate Zimmermann. They lived in

Oberursel Oberursel (Taunus) (, , in contrast to " Lower Ursel") is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In ...

, where he died on 25 January 2022, at the age of 91.

Works

Zimmermann's best-known works are his sacred motets with plucked double bass, his organ psalms, and his "Prosalieder". One of his chief works is the ''Missa profana'' which he created over 15 years, set for a vocal quartet, choir, dixieland jazz band, tape, and large orchestra. Completed in 1980, it was premiered in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

in 1981. Others are the sacred oratorio ''The Bible of Spirituals'', Te Deum, and ''Symphonia sacra''. His ''Don-Giovanni-Variationen'' for orchestra premiered in Frankfurt in 2020.

Awards

Amongst other honours, Zimmermann was awarded the Music Prizes of Berlin, a

Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo (), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rome, often referred to as the German Rome P ...

scholarship in 1965/66, and he received the Johann Sebastian Bach Prize of Stuttgart in 1982. The American

in Springfield bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate, followed by three American theses dedicated to his work, including one at the

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in California. In 2009, he received the honorary doctorate from

. In 2012, he was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

References

Citations

Cited sources

* * * * *

External links

Heinz Werner Zimmermann über seine Werke und die Beeinflussung durch den Jazz
(in German)

Verband Deutscher Konzertchöre The Verband Deutscher KonzertChöre (VDKC, Association of German Concert Choirs) is a national association with seven state organisations. It represents more than 550 member choirs with more than 30,400 singers. It is a non-profit organisation, whic ...

April 2010 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Heinz Werner 1930 births 2022 deaths 20th-century German classical composers 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German classical composers 21st-century German male musicians German male classical composers Hochschule für Musik Freiburg alumni Musicians from Freiburg im Breisgau Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany