Bernd Alois Zimmermann was born on 20 March 1918 in Bliesheim near Cologne.  After 1937 he studied music at the Musikhochschulen in Cologne and Berlin as well as German and philosophy at the universities of Bonn, Cologne and Berlin.  His most influential teachers of composition were Heinrich Lemacher and Philipp Jarnach in Cologne.  From 1957 (being appointed professor in 1961) he taught composition and conducted a seminar in film, theatre and radio music at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik.

He was a scholarship student at Villa Massimo in Rome in 1957 and 1963, received the "Großer Kunstpreis von Nordrhein-Westfalen" in 1960, was granted membership of the West Berlin Academy of Arts (1965), and was awarded the Prize of Arts of the City of Cologne in 1966.

Zimmermann’s work covers compositions for orchestra (including a symphony, ballet music and concertos), his famous opera Die Soldaten  and other vocal music, chamber music, solo works, as well as electronic music.  The world premiere of his opera Die Soldaten (composed 1958-60 following the principles of "pluralistic sound composition) in Cologne in 1965 was a sensational success.  Another well-known work is the Requiem für einen jungen Dichter (premièred in 1969 by the WDR Cologne).  Though relatively few in number, the compositions of Zimmermann hold a key position in the history of  post-war German music.  He not only absorbed the disciplines of serialism and the rigours of the Darmstadt avant-garde, but also merged these influences with jazz and with quotations from earlier composers in a way that strikingly anticipates post-modern techniques.

On 10 August 1970, in Königsdorf near Cologne, Zimmermann took his own life.