He was educated at the teachers' seminary at Bautzen, was a schoolmaster at Weigsdorf in Cunewalde from 1870 to 1871, from thence going to Leipzig, and playing the triangle in the municipal theatre there.

[1] He was one of those who helped Richard Wagner in the preparation of the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in the years 1873 to 1875, and after this he conducted in the theatres of Salzburg, Würzburg, Magdeburg, Frankfurt, and Hamburg (1884 to 1886).

In 1891 he went to Stuttgart as Hofkapellmeister, taking over the conductorship of the Society for Classical Church Music, in lieu of Immanuel Faisst, who was ill.

Here he was especially active in directing the famous Wagner performances at the Prinzregententheater up to 1903, in which year, on 4 September, he died suddenly, aged 53.

[1] This article incorporates text from the entry "Zumpe, Hermann" in the second edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (published 1904–1910) which is in the public-domain