With his opera "Die Soldaten" and his "Requiem für einen jungen Dichter" Bernd Alois Zimmermann became known in the 1960s as one of the leading composers of the generation that emerged after the Second World War. His œuvre, which includes works for the stage, a symphony, ballet music, and solo concertos, is distinguished by a highly individual style that combines serial techniques and ideas from the Darmstadt avant-garde with influences from jazz and quotations from earlier composers. Born in 1918 near Cologne, Zimmermann studied music pedagogy, musicology, and composition with Heinrich Lemacher and Philipp Jarnach at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He was a two-time recipient of a grant from the Villa Massimo in Rome; in 1960 he received the Grand Art Award of Northrhine-Westfalia, and in 1965 he was invited to be a member of the Art Akademie of Berlin. The composer committed suicide in 1970.
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