Bernd Alois Zimmermann

Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera Die Soldaten, which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. His eclectic music, which employs a wide range of techniques including dodecaphony and musical quotation, encompasses the styles of the avant-garde, serial, and postmodern. Life Zimmermann was born in Bliesheim (now part of Erftstadt), near Cologne. He grew up in a rural Catholic community in western Germany. His father worked for the German Reichsbahn and was also a farmer. In 1929, Zimmermann began attending a private Catholic school, where he had his first real encounter with music. After the NSDAP closed all private schools, he switched to a public Catholic school in Cologne where, in 1937, he received his Abitur. That same year he fulfilled his duty for the Reichsarbeitsdienst and spent late 1937–early 1938 studying pedagogy at the Hochschule für Lehrerausbildung (lit. University for Teacher Training) in Bonn. He began studying music education, musicology, and composition in early 1938 at the University for Music in Cologne. In 1940, he was draft