March 20 - Bernd Alois Zimmermann (The Musical Birthday Series)

Although Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918– 10 August 1970) wrote a large catalog of music, he is best known for his notoriously difficult expressionist opera, Die Soldaten.

This is a double dactyl, a genre of biographically inspired humorous poem with very strict structural rules.  Here are links to two definitions for those who are curious.  The first from the Poetry Foundation is clearer but less accurate than the second, from Wikipedia.  Take your pick.  The classic statement is the book Jiggery-Pokery:  A Compendium of Double Dactyls by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander (New York, 1967)

Clang Clang Klang

 

Pocketa pocketa

Bernd Alois Zimmermann

Wrote Die Soldaten in

Modernist style,

Using techniques known as

Klangkomposition.

Sit there and ponder on

That for awhile!