Heinz Werner Zimmermann

Heinz Werner Zimmermann (born 11 August 1930 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a German composer.

Zimmermann had his first composition instruction from 1946 to 1948 with Julius Weismann and studied from 1950 to 1954 in Heidelberg with Wolfgang Fortner as well as at the Institut for Protestant Church Music there. After passing his examinations at the Freiburger Musikhochschule under Harald Genzmer, he became Fortner’s successor in Heidelberg. Here he maintained close contacts with the musicologist Thrasyboulos Georgiades, whose rhythm and language studies influenced him the most, along with his occupation with American spirituals and jazz. From 1963 to 1976 Heinz Werner Zimmermann was director of the Berlin Church-Music School in Spandau, and then from 1975 to 1996 as successor to Kurt Hessenberg as composition teacher at the Frankfurt Conservatory.

Zimmermann’s best-known works are his sacred motets with plucked contrabass, his organ psalms, and his "Prosalieder". Among his chief works are his "Missa profana", the spiritual oratorio "The Bible of Spirituals" as well as his "Symphonia sacra".

Amongst other honors, Zimmermann has been awarded the Music Prizes of the cities of Stuttgart and Berlin, a Villa Massimo Stipend, and received in 1982 the Johann Sebastian Bach Prize. The American Wittenberg University in Springfield bestowed uon him an honorary doctorate, Zimmermann wrote three American theses, including one at Stanford University in California. Zimmermann is married to the organist Renate Zimmermann.

"Translated from the German Wikipedia"

Sources

* Brusniak, Friedhelm, and Heinz Werner Zimmermann. 2000. "Komposition und Kontemplation". Tutzing: Schneider. ISBN 3-7952-1013-5
* Brusniak, Friedhelm. 2005. "Heinz Werner Zimmermann". Tutzing: Schneider. ISBN 3-7952-1178-6