Hugo Distler

Synopsis

German organist, composer, and teacher

• 1908 born in Nuremberg
• 1927-1931 attended the Leipzig Conservatory, where he switched from conducting and piano to composition and organ on the advice of his teacher. He studied with Ramin, Hogner, and Grabner, who in turn had studied counterpoint with Reimann. He was strongly affected by Bach's continuing influence in Leipzig, and by the Orgelbewegung, a movement started by Albert Schweizer that sought to return to the organ sound of the German Baroque and pre-Baroque.
• 1931 became organist at St. Jacobi in Lübeck. This was when his most fruitful years as a composer began.
• 1933 married, and that same year joined the Nazi party in order to keep his employment.
• 1935 oversaw the restoration of the Jakobikirche’s organs. When they were finished, he wrote a book about them.
• 1937 moved to Stuttgart to teach at the Württemberg Hochschule für Musik. This was where he first began to encounter state antagonism to his work.
• 1938 narrowly avoided the denunciation of his work as ‘degenerate art’ at the music festival in Düsseldorf.
• 1940 succeeded Kurt Thomas as teacher of composition, organ and choral conducting at the Staatliche Akademische Hochschule für Musik in Charlottenburg, Berlin. Here Distler, who was "religious and sensitive" according to Oxford Music online, became more and more depressed by the stress of aerial attacks, overwork, pressure from the state, the threat of conscription into the army, the deaths of friends, and the increasing conflict between his religion and the Nazi party.
• 1942 Distler committed suicide in Berlin.

For details, see the Wikipedia article on Hugo Distler.

Also refer to Oxford Music Online's biography of Hugo Distler: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/07854?q=hugo+distler&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

List of Organ Works

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Opus	Title	Year
Op. 8 no. 1	Partita: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland	1933
Op. 8 no. 2	Partita: Wachet auf, ruft uns dei Stimme	1934-1935
Op. 8 no. 3	Kleine Orgelchoral Bearbeitungen	1938
Op. 18 no. 1	Dreissig Speilstucke fur die Kleinorgel	1938
Op. 18 no. 2	Orgelsonate (Trio)	1938-1939
Op. ??	Title	year
Op. ??	Title	year

Background and General Perspectives on Performing Distler Organ Works

From Wikipedia: "he is known mostly for his sacred choral music and as a champion of Neo-Baroque music...His music is polyphonic and frequently melismatic, often based on the pentatonic scale. His works remain "tonally anchored," while at the same time they "reveal an innovative harmonic sense.""

From Oxford Music Online: "The basis of Distler’s work was the rediscovery of old forms and genres, and his highly effective word-painting evolved from the music of Schütz...The organ pieces are similarly new in principle; something of their originality came from Distler’s work with Baroque organs, primarily in north Germany. In both vocal and organ works the distinctive features of Distler’s style are its pregnant rhythms and its harmonic boldness within a tonal setting."

Distler's work contains elaborate counterpoint, 20th century sounds in a Baroque setting, relatively tonal music, and simpler pedal lines.

Registration and Organs

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See the footnote in the "Notes" section at the bottom of the page

Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

30 Pieces, Opus 18 no. 1, on imslp: http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/1/1c/IMSLP288334-PMLP468266-distler2.pdf

Kleine Orgelchoral Bearbeitungen, Opus 8 no. 3, on imslp: http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/f/f4/IMSLP288290-PMLP468229-distler1.pdf

Recordings

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Free Online

Suite from 30 Pieces for Organ, Opus 18 no. 1, played by Christiano Rizzoto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iirb4gPiLqc

Partita from Opus 8 no. 3, "Jesus Christus unser Heiland der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt," played by Mark Bell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJUc_-Vnm6g

Pay to Listen

Organ Sonata, Opus 18 no. 2: http://byu.naxosmusiclibrary.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2294

Other Resources

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Notes

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