From Bestellnummer DMR 1007-09 (Zeitgenössische Music in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 3):

Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970), Die Soldaten (1959), Vokalsinfonie für 6 Solisten und Orchester

Preludio, Introduzione, 3rd scene (Ricercari I), 5th scene (Nocturno I) from the First Act; Intermezzo and 2nd scene (Capriccio, Corale e Ciaconna II) from the Second Act.

Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Köln, conducted by Hiroshi Wakasugi. Live recording from the Royal Albert Hall, London, October 15, 1978. A recording of the Westdeutschen Rundfunks.

BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN 

Today Bernd Alois Zimmermann, along with György Ligeti and Wilhelm Killmayer, is considered to be a leading personage by numerous young composers, a delayed, but therefore all the more unreserved acknowledgement of a composer who in his lifetime (if one excludes his opera, "Die Soldaten", which is generally held to be his major work) never attained real success. If one tracks down the reasons for this posthumous recognition, elements are revealed which, on the one hand, have become more relevant for composition today and which, on the other, offer information about Zimmermann's personality and work, his stylistic openness and the pluralistic range of what he composed, the expressivity which is always interwoven with constructive thought, the uncompromising intellectual and technical demands made by Zimmermann's music.

Bernd Alois Zimmermann was a well-educated musician and had equally strong ties with literature and graphic art as with the most diverse genres of music. Michael Gielen once attested that he was the last composer who could do everything. He composed for films, the stage, radio plays, concerts, and ballet. He did not shy away from including popular music in his work. The greatest portion of his works, his actual domain, are orchestral works and solo concertos. In addition, there are cantatas, piano music, solo sonatas (for violin, viola, cello, flute), electronic compositions, the "Requiem fur einen jungen Dichter" (1967-69), and his opera, "Die Soldaten", which he worked on for seven years, 1958 to 1965, before completing the final version.

This kind of wide-open approach to composition made the categories of style obsolete. "The stylistic range of music for radio plays", Zimmermann wrote once, "extends from Gregorian chant to serial music, from >primitive< music to electronic music, from the tomtom to >musique concrete<." It's not a flower pot for stylistic purists! Elsewhere he writes: "We should have the courage to admit that, given the musical reality, style is an anachronism . . ." The rejection of the concept of style as an aesthetic anachronism manifests itself in Zimmermann's thoughts on pluralism. His concept of "pluralism", a type of philosophy of music, realized in composition, is to be understood as an answer to the multifariousness of musical reality, experience, and imagination. The phenomenon of time was central in Zimmermann's thinking; the reflection that the objectively irreversible passing of cosmic time is confronted by a subjective, inner time of experience, in which chronologically separate events may coincide. The "spherical form of time" was Zimmermann's emblem. Zimmermann attempted to realize this world of ideas, among other ways, with musical quotations and collages; isolated fragments of the most diverse historical and stylistic origin; interspersed in contemporary music, or the piling up of many quotations on top of one another became for him a reflection of pluralistic chronological simultaneity. (His eight movement "Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu" from 1966, which consists solely of quotations from music ranging from Gregorian chant to that of today, represents the highpoint of this practice of quotation.)

It is questionable, however, whether this framework stemming from a philosophy of music which sustains and embraces all of Zimmermann's works, reveals the essentials. Expressivity (it is not without cause that Zimmermann has at times been called the last expressionist) is namely the innermost quality of his music, a desire to express which remains evident even in those cases where he consciously restrains himself. Zimmermann, who characterized himself as being a hybrid between a "monk and Dionysos", was old-fashioned, baroque in character; his natural talent in composition led towards voluptuousness, color, and solemn development of all means at his disposal. His "Requiem" might be an example of this. On the other hand he could come to terms with the most limiting of restraints and with intimacy; his solo sonatas, with their compositional abstraction and intensification, are evidence of this. Zimmermann's music ranges between these poles of display and asceticism, between emphasis and simplicity. Its expressivity, however, is always restrained and controlled by discipline in construction. There is no work whose directness could not be traced back to its principles of construction, and vice versa, no work whose moving expressivity was not obtained from its strict structure.

Getting to know Zimmermann's music means that one has to accept the challenge placed by its technical (most of his works conceal staggering difficulties) and especially its intellectual demands. Because of these difficulties some works (such as the "Ekklesiastische Aktion" from 1970) still await decoding. Zimmermann never swerved from his belief that spiritual and technical demands were more important than the practical conditions of performance, as most obviously demonstrated by the first version of "Die Soldaten" which was considered impossible to perform. Aesthetics were more important than the technical means. The search for that which was musically "new" did not become a fetish for him, he was opposed to compositional and technical dogmas. The concept of a work of art was inviolable to him throughout his life, one which he did not want to surrender or see corroded by any sort of aleatoric process. This music, determined by all of these factors of Zimmermann's musical and intellectual altitude, embodies, as Caria Henius put it so aptly, the "magistral work" which "has no other purpose other than simply >being there<". Perhaps this is where its real attraction lies today.

Clemens Kuhn (Translation: Anne Smith)


Die Soldaten – Vokalsinfonie

Zimmermann's opera "Die Soldaten" remains his principal work - a fact which does not in any way diminish the importance of a work such as the "Requiem fiir einen jungen Dichter" ("Requiem for a young poet"); nevertheless, in the composer's career which certainly was not lacking in disappointments and setbacks, it was a child of sorrow. As early as 1957 - after considering many other operatic subjects - he was already contemplating the idea of writing an opera on Jakob Reinhold Michael Lenz's play "Die Soldaten". In commissioning the opera, the City of Cologne provided the initial financial support. The first performance was scheduled to take place in connection with the ISCM Festival in Cologne in 1960. But things were to turn out differently: the first two acts were completed by the autumn of 1959; thereupon both Cologne's Intendant in office, Oscar Fritz Schuh and Musical Director Wolfgang Sawallisch declared that the work was impossible to perform - the publishers discontinued the production of the parts and Zimmermann stopped working on the third act (at the time the opera was divided into three acts; the present division into four acts was undertaken by Zimmermann later). Having stigmatized the torso of the opera as being impossible to perform, the Cologne Opera nevertheless prevented other, smaller theatres from making the attempt. In view of this situation Zimmermann was able to persuade the publishers to produce an abridged concert version - the Vokalsinfonie - as an indication of its performability. These considerations were prompted by the three fragments from "Wozzeck" with which Eridi Kleiber had anticipated the opera in Berlin and also the "Lulu"-Symphony. The West German Radio put on a performance of this "Vokalsinfonie", which included six parts of the opera - three vocal and three instrumental - on 20th May 1963 at a public concert with Jan Krenz conducting and with the soloists Joan Carroll (Marie), Hans-Ulrich Mielsch (Desportes) and Gunter Reich (Stolzius). The title "Vokalsinfonie" was chosen by the composer, who originally planned to compile, in addition to these scenes, a purely instrumental symphony from the Introduction and the Intermezzi - but this plan never came to fruition. The Cologne performance of the 'Vokalsinfonie' fulfilled its purpose: the Cologne Theatre, and in particular the new Intendant Arno Assmann, declared their willingness to stage the work; and so the opera was given for the first time on 15th February 1965 - after Zimmermann had devoted his second stay at the Villa Massimo (1963/64) to completing the third act which is now divided into two. Up to now (March 1982) the opera has been performed at eight theatres (Cologne, Dusseldorf, Munich, Kassel, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Boston); further productions are at the planning stage - the stigma of 'unperformability' has been triumphantly invalidated.

The aspect of Lenz's drama which fascinated Zimmermann particularly has been often stated by him - here in an introductory note to the "Vokalsinfonie": "That which drew me above all to the 'Soldaten' is the circumstance that - as Lenz wrote in this piece in 1774/75, - people such as we may encounter at any time, in an exemplary situation which affects all those taking part, are victims of events which they cannot escape - not so much through fate - the blind Moera - as through the fatal constellation of classes, relationships and characters, just as they are: guiltless rather, than guilty".

Neither the period-piece nor the class warfare, nor the social aspect, nor the perennial criticism of the soldier's status were questions of immediate moment. This was opera as such. What possibilities does this form, so old and so often declared dead, afford in reference to what has been said? In his ‘Anmerkungen übers Theater’ (observations on the theatre) Lenz does not only offer a dramaturgy of "Sturm und Drang" but expounds a conception which still retains its significance and indeed seems to be taking full effect only now. The unity of the inward action: this is to a certain extent the geometrical point, the nucleus out of which evolve all phases and stages of the action, of the characters and of the entire theatrical phenomenon.

This is the point of departure in Lenz's conception: the derivation of the multitude of phenomena from one unity which can be unfolded, developed and expressed successively and simultaneously. The three classical unities of time, place and action are systematically denied and several 'actions' are superimposed on one another-in anticipation of Joyce's simultaneous Dance of the Hours. Zimmermann rendered this simultaneity which he saw in the libretto by means of compositional pluralism. Pluralism means in this connection the simultaneousness and equal importance not only of different levels of action but also of different musical elements whose historical range is partly illustrated by the principle of collage. But Zimmermann is much more than a mere musical mechanic: he magnifies the inended simultaneity by means of his concept of layers of time of the simultaneousness of varied musical metres. Carl Dahlhaus has characterized this pluralism as follows:

Zimmermann, whose musical thought is permeated with mystical, serial, and theatrical elements was constantly in search of a formula which would combine mutually repelling elements and would do justice to all tendencies: the mystical experience of an inward simultaneity of events parted 'in time’; the inclination for serial proportioning of time, in detail as in general; and equally so the delight of the man of the theatre - oft the genuine opera composer - in an untrammelled plurality of musical styles and means whose legitimation lies in the dramaturgical functions which they fulfil"

Zimmermann answers the challenge posed by the 'unity of the inward action' with an all-interval twelve-note row (a row in which all intervals from the minor second to the major seventh occur once). The entire work in its harmonic and melodic structure is built on this row and its derivations. This row possesses certain intervallic symmetries which - if one derives from each note of the original row a new row for each scene - produces certain affinities which - without being intended to be audible are dramaturgically exploited. Not only the pitch but also the duration, dynamics and density are serially preformed, without, however, this preformation being dogmatically insisted on; Zimmermann even derived the tempo relationships from the relationships of the intervals in the original row.

The "Vokalsinfonie" contains six of the twenty-four parts of the complete opera, which may be combined into three scenes. The composer explains his selection in the introductory text as follows:

"Three scenes are to be heard whose selection was determined by three factors. Firstly that of practical performance. (What parts of a work conceived for the stage, can be performed at a concert; what is the maximum number of soloists that can be employed for this.) Secondly by the vocal aspect. (Scenes in which the 'cantabile' is predominant — as opposed to speech which is treated in many nuances from whispering to screaming, from the spoken to the sung word.) Thirdly from the point of view of the action. (Hence the main characters of the opera are presented: Marie, Desportes, Stolzius, Marie's father and the mothers of Stolzius and of Marie's father, whereby Marie's destiny is the most important aspect.)

But what are three scenes compared with the entire diversity of an opera lasting a whole evening?"

The "Vokalsinfonie" begins with the "Preludio". In this prelude Zimmermann reveals the entire complexity of the opera but also its consistency. In the strictest of all forms - in a canon of up to thirty-six voices - are included all the structures that are of importance for the opera, it is a kind of compositional catalogue - or, as Zimmermann quotes Joyce's saying, it puts "all space in a nutshell". The transition to the first scene is formed by the brief, rhythmical introduction to the first act, which is then followed by the third scene of the first act (named by Zimmermann "Ricercar I"). The action: Desportes, an aristocratic officer of the Militia, is courting Marie, the daughter of Wesener, a fancy-goods merchant from Lille. She is engaged to Stolzius, a cloth merchant from Armentieres. Strings, high wood-wind, harp and harpsichord are the background of this extravagantly elated scene until the duet between the coloratura soprano and tenor becomes a trio by the addition of the bass, Wesener. Wesener, who is a mixture of bourgeois prudence and mercenary obsequiousness, refuses Desportes' request to take Marie to the theatre and explains to his sulking daughter that she need not expect any good to come of such aristocratic suitors.

The fifth scene of the first act which follows is described by Zimmermann as "Notturno" - a spectral and stormy night- piece; it is concerned almost entirely with Marie who, bewildered by her father's promises of a glorious future, is no longer able to cope with the affairs of her modest life and, more with resignation than self-assurance, lets things take their course.

The simultaneity of the musical time-strata is clearest in the Intermezzo of Act 2, in which Zimmermann dispenses largely with the wood-wind and strings and superimposes brass, percussion, piano and organ in two metrically independent strata: just as, at the beginning, the xylophone, marimbaphone, and piano are independent of the 'tutti', so, in the second part, are the side-drum and trumpets written in the 'baroque' style. The conclusion of the "Vokalsinfonie" is the second scene of the 2nd act and is entitled "Capriccio", "Corale e Ciacona II": here the simultaneity is transferred to the action. While on one level Desportes secudes [sic] Marie, Wesener's aged mother sings the song of the Rose of Hennegau on a second, and on a third, in Armentieres Stolzius's mother remonstrates with him because, in spite of the farewell letter that Desportes has dictated to Marie, he still loves the girl, and Stolzius swears vengeance on the aristocratic seducer. In this scene Zimmermann's concept of the "spherical form of time" in which yesterday, today and tomorrow are present at the same time is perhaps most striking and reveals itself as a summary of history with the significant inclusion of the Bach Chorale "Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit". The anticipation - on a more lyric and intimate plane - of the tragic and hopeless end of the opera.              

Wulf Konold (Translation: John Bell) The characters of the action: Marie (dramatic coloratura soprano), Desportes (high tenor), Stolzius (juvenile, high baritone), Wesener (bass), Wesener's mother (contralto), Stolzius's mother (dramatic contralto).

Instruments of the Orchestra: 2 Flutes, 3 Oboes, 4 Clarinets, Alto Saxophon, 3 Bassoons - 5 Horns, 4 Trumpets, 4 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Carillon, Xylophone, Marimbaphone, Vibraphone, Guitar, Harp, Celesta, Harpsichord, Piano, Organ-Strings.

 
From Bestellnummer DMR 1013-15 (Zeitgenössische Music in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 5):

Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970), Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu (1966), Ballet noir en sept parties et une entrée

Rundfunks-Sinfonie-Orchester Köln, conducted by Michael Gielen. A recording of the Westdeutschen Rundfunks, 1972.


BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN 

Bernd Alois Zimmermann was born on the 20th March 1918 in Bliesheim near Cologne. He completed his studies at the Schools of Music in Cologne and Berlin with the teachers H. Lemacher and Ph. Jarnach. He received a scholarship in 1957 to visit the Villa Massimo. From 1958 onwards he taught composition and held a seminary for film and radio music at the Cologne Musikhochschule. He was awarded the Forderungspreis (for music) by the State of Nordrhein-Westfalen. Zimmermann died on the 10 August 1970 in Lovenich near Cologne.

"I am presumably a mixture, typical of the Rheinland, of monk and Dionysus" - "... as the oldest of these young composers" : two self-revelatory sayings of Bernd Alois Zimmermann. In both of them there is not only a concentrated charge of psychological problems, of pessimistic estimation, of clear vision; two famous quotations of the composer who was regarded as being "difficult" in his lifetime, to whom success was denied - apart from his opera "The Soldiers" - who could be so ecstatically joyful and profoundly dejected; an all-round mind and, as many have put it, the last composer who was a master in every field. Perhaps Zimmermann is so popular with younger composers, because they find in his works concrete material, comprehensible compositions, first-rate craftsmanship and well-formed material; a composer who, in spite of his basic philosophic tenet, never suppressed "inspiration" or a "flash of insight" but encouraged spontaneity. Although precision of the microscopic and microcosmic detail formed the groundwork of his composition, he combined the “pedantic precision and almost scientific thoroughness" in the processing of the material with the spontaneous musical thought and used the material in the sense of the inspiration, not of the construction.

The antithesis goes further: side by side with those strictly organized scores - admired still today for their magic - with immense orchestral resources, there are always - and almost designedly - works for solo instruments or at least small ensembles; Zimmermann constantly set himself the task of reducing the unlimited diversity, the plurality of means and possibilities to a minimum. His method was to experiment, thereby not getting out of his depth, to work hard with the material, to discover its manifold features and to probe every possible sound that an instrument could produce. From the earliest stages of his career as a composer Zimmermann often used the same basic material for these contrasting dimensions as, for example, the same twelve-note row or serial framework (the row in "Die Soldaten" is used with a minimum of modification in "Dialoge" for two pianos and large orchestra, in the solo version "Monologe" and in the piano trio "Présance"; the same row is used for the piano pieces from “Enchiridion II", the “Metamorphosen/Konfigurationen", the orchestral work "Kontraste" and others). Zimmermann goes even further and takes whole structures as quotations and thus provides the same material with quite different contexts. This reveals how important to him a basic idea was once he had found it and how many possibilities he was able to wrest from it. And this in the most undoctrinaire manner as, for instance, in his treatment of the twelve-tone technique. The "organisation" of sound was for him the most "sacred" and to this end every technical means had to submit. This entailed demands on the performers which at the time seemed impossible to fulfil. (The Sonata for Cello solo, 1959/60 for instance, was classified as being unplayable; the original version - unfortunately destroyed - of the opera "Die Soldaten" contained insoluble problems for both the interpreters and the stage technicians; the exorbitant demands as regards the seating disposition could not be satisfied [the original version of ,,Dialoge"].) Further factors came to light: the use of the simplest and most obvious means with corresponding effect. Contrasting elements - ab initio. Also in the titles of his works, between the works. "Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu" (1968) is followed by the abstract work "Stille und Umkehr" (1970); in the opera "Soldaten" Sturm und Drang expressiveness forms a contrast to the profoundly depressing contempt of mankind; the early, elegant Ballet Suite "Alagona" (1940/45) to the "Sinfonie in einem Satz" (1947/ 1952) which is full of self-doubts and the desire to overcome the past. Elements of tension can also be seen in Zimmermann's classical education; its development was characterized by an incredible thirst for knowledge, a knowledge of the highest order, an education in the best sense which he received over a long period as a boarder at Steinfeld (Eifel) and at the (catholic) Apostelgymnasium in Cologne where the foundations were laid for his great interest in the classics, in philosophy, German philology and musicology. His interest in the kindred arts, above all the fine arts and the theatre, his inclination for philosophic reflexion and deduction, the comprehension and the adaption [sic] of the musical past, can be seen repeatedly.

His mind and his entire oeuvre were furthermore moulded by a profound sense of religion and Catholicism. One indication of this are the letters, to be found at the end of almost every score, O.A.M.D.G. (Omnia ad maioram Dei gloria). A symbol, a sort of dedication or gratitude, a confession or declaration which constantly gives expression to the close association with Zimmermann's faith. How often do quotations not appear from "Liber Ecclesiastis" (the preacher) ("Antiphonen", "Omnia tempus habent", "Ekklesiastische Aktion" etc.) the manifold musical quotations are expressive of great intellectual and spiritual movements and associations. Tension in relation to his contemporaries, his colleagues who like him started out from zero after the second world war, and who had to catch up with the times and took in everything new like sponges. Tension on account of his deep, spiritual, musical conscience and the experiences which he himself had had as "the oldest of these young composers". He was ten years younger than, for instance, Wolfgang Fortner and Olivier Messiaen, on the other side ten years elder than Luigi Nono, Giselher Klebe and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In spite of all unfavourable and political circumstances, Zimmermann was forced to make up - in quick time - for that which his younger colleagues had already assimilated or which did not burden them through direct experience. This meant: to study and adapt Hindemith, Strawinsky at the same time as Schoenberg and, above all, Webern. It was to Zimmermann's advantage that his immense spiritual strength was always turned towards the future and that he therefore felt himself to belong to the younger generation. But, being older than they, he was ahead of them in experience, knowledge, and ideas so that the awareness of his generation's handicap remained. The mixture of monk and Dionysus is an antinomy, an antithesis which is expressed in all of Zimmermann's works and was present in himself. Bacchic features of a highly expressive, rhythmically emphasized language alternate with musical figurations and metamorphoses of the most refined tenderness and intensity. The contrasts and tensions can be freely extended to those of the ascetic and the magician, the polemic, satirist and analyst, the student and the teacher.

Zimmermann was a lone fighter and individualist. His musical education with Heinrich Lemacher and Philipp Jarnach immediately after the war was traditional, discursive and very thorough. Up to about 1950 Zimmermann's composition remained within traditional limits, within the bounds of tonality. The influence of Hindemith and strong neo-classical tendencies are readily detectable in his works ("Sinfonie in einem Satz"; "Violinkonzert"; "Oboenkonzert"), He experienced at first hand the beginnings and the development of the New Music. As he often wrote, even at the end of his life, he was a mediator - a guardian and champion of tradition and a strong advocate of the new. The essence and specificity of music may not be neglected on account of technical mastery." . . . for even if one knows how it is done, one is still far from being in possession of that which determines music at the very roots" (Zimmermann).

In the fifties, when Zimmermann earned his living by making countless arrangements of light music for films and radio plays, he concentrated his studies on the technique of serial music. The "Canto di speranza" as a largely organized work, the "Perspektiven" for two pianos in its infinite diversity of timbres, the sonatas for solo violin and for solo viola were works that made Zimmermann known and in which he addressed himself to the public. His sense of tone colour changed from the broad, brilliantly orchestrated expanse of sound to the single sound, the single note, the pointillist moment, the microstructure - and thus also to the transparency of his musical declamation.

This development made it possible for him to establish his idea of the "pluralistic method of composition" on the basis of the single tone illumined from all sides, an idea based on musical philosophy, a kind of superstructure in Zimmermann's world of ideas which was already in embryo in the middle of the fifties and matured, and was put into musical practice, between 1957 and 1960.

In his pluralistic method of composition the concept "time" is of prime importance. This is closely bound up with Zimmermann's general view of the world, with his spiritual background and his intellect. His pluralistic edifice evolved from the desire to overcome the phenomenon of "time" - that experience of the subconscious which is immeasurable in time. He found parallels in many variations in the kindred arts, in literature, philosophy and religion. Zimmermann even quotes sources such as St. Augustine (5th century), James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Immanuel Kant, the painters Max Ernst and Paul Klee, and, as already mentioned, often the third book of Solomon from the Old Testament: "Omnius tempus habent". It is all a question of the broad background of Western culture. Zimmermann made it his aim to make people aware of the problems of the times - of the past, present, and future - in his music, as music for him is the "art of time" par excellence. He invented the Kugelgestalt der Zeit (the spherical form of time), time as a sphere, equidistant from all times, present - nolens volens. The consciousness of the composer and the listener who are in the midst of it, makes it possible for them to experience all three times simultaneously, with the same intensity, equally near and equally far.

Zimmermann calls the corresponding "moment of experience" in the multi-layered simultaneity his "pluralism". In order to realize this he uses the serial technique. Its proportional involution of the individual notes within the 12-tone row and all-interval row serves him as a framework. All the different qualities (parameters) of the notes are thereby strictly organized; the form and individual structure, and thus also the actual course of the piece of music in question result from this organization as a basis of all the parameters and the row.

The subconscious, the presence of all three times comes to the surface on account of the "open spaces" which are created in the serial concept - scraps of reminiscences in the form of extraneous musical quotions [sic] of varying duration. When several quotations are to be heard simultaneously or if several layers overlap, Zimmermann calls it collages - a notion which has long been in circulation in the arts, — a montage of pre-existing material. Things both unfamiliar and from everyday life from the surrounding world are introduced into art and produce new combinations. Collages are equally well-known in literature, whereby the arbitrarily collected materials are here seen as literary arrangements. Zimmermann's ideas of quotation and collage have more to do with the time aspect: quotations that are combined in a collage are "witnesses from the most various epochs of musical history", which "are present in the filing cabinet of our consciousness like a micro-film" (Zimmermann) and intimate the various dimensions of time.


Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu (1968)

While the "Monologe" are representative of the period in which Zimmermann's "pluralism" was at its most intensive - the almost unbounded multi-layered structure of an entire world of ideas, Zimmermann pushes his idea of quotation and collage ad absurdum and this culminates in the "ballet noir" "Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu", a piece that consists solely in quotations from others, witty, humorous and full of bitter cynicism, almost misanthropically set to music; it is a most opulent music with hair-raising impact and reality which radiates with some coarseness a desperately macabre merriment and yet which turns into bitter earnestness at the end. Without doubt one of the few pieces of music combining inspired imagination and perfect mastery of his craft. In 1966 Zimmermann became a member of the Berlin Akademie der Künste. The music for "Ubu" was written for this occasion and first performed in 1968. Zimmermann: "The piece is a 'ballet noir' which is performed at a banquet at the Court of Ubu. The Academy of the country in which the piece set is commanded to attend the banquet - and at the end in the 'Marche du decervellage' is dispatched through the trap door: symbolic of the fate of a liberal academy under the reign of a usurper. In order to show up our absolutely disproportionate intellectual and cultural situation, musical collages of the most amusing and hardest tone are used; the piece is pure collage, based on dances of the 16th and 17th centuries, interspersed with quotations from earlier and contemporary composers. A farce which is seemingly merry, fat and greedy like Ubu himself: apparently an enormous prank, but for those who are able to hear beyond this it is a warning allegory, macabre and amusing at the same time." In the 20-minute work the basic features and actions of the main character are adapted from the surrealist novel by the French author Alfred Jarry. Ubu is the incarnation of a depraved bourgeois, a tyrant and mass murderer, boorish and coarse, who has made his way by murder from being a captain of a regiment of dragoons to become the Head of State. Zimmermann's work is divided into seven parts with an Entree in which all the colleagues of the music academy are "quoted". A work that surpasses by far Zimmermann's musical pluralism and without doubt is intended to have a political function. The climax is the "Marche du decervellage": a collage of quotations from Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyrie", Stockhausen's "Klavierstuck IX" (from which a chord on the piano is repeated, not as in the original 280 times but 631 times) and Berlioz's "March to Scaffold" from the "Symphonic fantastique". Hardly ever can descriptive music have been crueller, more destructive, more implacable; biting attacks against his contemporaries, musical marking time taken to absurdity, giving rise to brutality. The orchestra consists of large wood-wind, brass and percussion groups and only 4 double basses.

The use of musical quotation and the resulting quotation collage in imitation of literary and artistic collage reached its peak in the sixties in Zimmermann's "Ubu". The practice of quotation is thus overcome. The sorting and ordering of existing musical material as composition - and in this connection the composer's self-orientation in face of tradition and history, achieves a point of culmination in the works of the last five years of Zimmermann's life which is to remain unequalled. Quotation and quotation collages are extended in his works to higher and extra-musical significance within his peculiar philosophic "pluralistic method of composition".