Heinz Werner Zimmermann

Few composers have shaped the development of church music in the 20th century like Heinz Werner Zimmermann, who was important both as a composer of his own works and as a composition teacher of several generations of church musicians.

In Zimmermann's life, composing and teaching composition went hand in hand from early on. At the age of 23, Zimmermann became the successor of his own composition teacher Wolfgang Fortner at the Church Music Institute in Heidelberg. At the age of 32, he was appointed director of the church music school in Berlin-Spandau, where he was largely responsible for its reconstruction and restructuring. In 1975 he moved to the Frankfurt University of Music as a professor of composition, where he taught until his retirement in 1996. He received honorary doctorates from Leipzig University and Wittenberg University (U.S.A), later receiving the Wittenberg Award from the Washington (D.C.) based Luther Institute. Zimmermann also garnered several German prizes for his compositions, including the Music Prize of Berlin and the Johannes Sebastian Bach Prize of Stuttgart, and was also decorated with the Villa Massimo Stipend (Rome, 1965–66). 

Numerous essays and articles testify to Zimmerman’s profound understanding of all musical matters and to his comprehensive education as a musician and performer. He consciously rejected the spiritualized and scientific compositional style of many of his 20th century contemporaries;  his music is intended to reach the listener directly. Zimmermann wrote music that (according to Zimmermann himself) "owes itself to the subjective time-shaping principle of spoken language, but also gives its place to the objective time-shaping principle of dance music." This seemingly theoretical definition transforms into a stylistic polyphony in Zimmermann's works – a combination and counterpoint of different musical genres. The composer looked not for revolution but for evolution. He was especially interested in incorporating elements of jazz and other non-European music, especially American spirituals, into his music, and exploring its connection with traditional forms. 

Zimmerman wrote numerous motets, psalm settings, and sacred songs, the most important of which include Sleepers Awake, The Bible of Spirituals, Symphonia Sacra as well as instrumental concertos (including for viola and oboe), and the Don Giovanni Variations. Zimmermann's magnum opus is widely considered his Missa Profana, a large-scale ordinary setting which, in addition to using soloists, choir, and orchestra, also utilizes a New-Orleans style jazz band and tape. 

Zimmerman passed away in Obersursel in January 2022 at the age of 91. He is survived by his wife, organist Renate Zimmerman. His works continue to be performed all over the world.