Walter Zimmermann (born 15 April 1949) is a German composer associated with the Cologne School. Born in

Schwabach Schwabach () is a German city of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg in the centre of the region of Franconia in the north of Bavaria. Together with the neighboring cities of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen, Schwabach forms one of the three me ...

, Germany, Zimmermann studied

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

in Germany with

Werner Heider Werner Heider (born 1 January 1930) is a German composer, pianist and conductor. Life Born in Fürth, Heider studied with Willy Spilling in Nuremberg and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich between 1945 and 1951. From 1949, he ...

and

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer and academic teacher. Life and career Early life and education Mauricio Raúl Kagel was born on 24 December 1931 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an ...

, the theory of musical intelligence at the

Institute of Sonology The Institute of Sonology is an education and research center for electronic and computer music based at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in the Netherlands. Background The institute was founded at Utrecht University in 1960 as the Studio fo ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

(now located in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

), and

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

in New York. Zimmermann's works are infused by a personal adaptation of minimal technique. Whereas many early American minimalist composers were influenced in their works by

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

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 ...

, and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

s, Zimmermann has drawn a great deal of inspiration from his

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

n heritage. A number of his works, particularly his groups of pieces known as ''Lokale Musik'', use the traditional music of this area as source material. These works frequently begin with melodic material derived from Franconian folk songs, which are rearranged and transformed in novel ways. In 1976, Zimmermann published a collection of interviews with American musicians and composers entitled ''Desert Plants: Conversations With 23 American Musicians.''

References

* Zimmermann, Walter (1976). ''Desert Plants: Conversations With 23 American Musicians.'' Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: A. R. C. Publications.

External links

Walter Zimmermann page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Walter 20th-century German classical composers 21st-century German classical composers 1949 births Living people German male classical composers 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians People from Schwabach