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Hugo Distler
Born in Nuremberg, Hugo Distler is known mostly for his sacred choral music. He attended Leipzig Conservatory first as a conducting student with piano as his secondary subject, but changing later, on the advice of his teacher, to composition and organ. He became organist at St. Jacobi in Lubeck in 1931. In 1933 he married Waltraut Thienhaus. That same year he joined the NSDAP: reluctantly, but his continued employment depended on his doing so. Distler also taught at the School for Church Music in Spandau, and became a professor of church music in Berlin in 1940.
Becoming increasingly depressed from the death of friends, aerial attacks, job pressures, and the constant threat of conscription into the German army, he committed suicide in Berlin at the age of 34. He chose to end his life by his own hand (with fumes from his own gas oven) rather than be conscripted into the Wehrmacht.
His work is polyphonic and frequently melismatic, often based on the pentatonic scale. Because of these characteristics, his work was stigmatized by some Nazis as "degenerate art." Distler enjoyed his first success in 1935 at the official Kassel Music Days (Kasseler Musiktage).
Composers - Early Music | Classical | 20th Century | Modern
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Review: Because so much emphasis is currently placed upon the fate of Jewish composers under the Nazis, it is easy to forget that there were some German musicians who also suffered as a result of the repressive policies of the regime. Among those that can be singled out in this respect is Hugo Distler, a highly talented church organist and choral conductor who committed suicide at the age of 34 in 1942, on learning that he had been called up for military service. The two large-scale works presented here offer typical examples of the so-called Orgelbewegung style drawing their inspiration from Bach in the trenchant use of chorale and Schutz in the density of polyphonic argument. It's a tribute to Distler's mastery and the outstanding singing of the Netherlands Chamber Choir that despite this obvious musical provenance, both works strike an individual voice and sustain one's interest without the textural variety of an instrumental accompaniment.
Songlist: Totentanz, Spruchmotetten zum Totensonntag, Choral-Passion, Op. 7, Erster Teil: Der Einzug, Zweiter Teil: Judas und der Pharisaer Rat, Dritter Teil: Das Abendmahl, Vierter Teil: Gethsemane, Funfter Teil: Kaiphas, Sechster Teil: Pilatus, Letzter Teil: Golgotha
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| Song Name | Arranger | Composer | Artist | Item Title | Format | Trax | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choral-Passion, Op. 7 | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Dritter Teil: Das Abendmahl | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Erster Teil: Der Einzug | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Es Ist Das Heil Uns Kommen Her | Hugo Distler | Knabenchor Capella Vocalis | Cantate Domino | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Es ist das Heil uns Kommen her (Opus 6, Pt. 2, No. 2) | Hugo Distler | Rockefeller Chapel Choir | 20th Century German Sacred Music | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Funfter Teil: Kaiphas | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Furwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit (Opus 12, No. 9) | Hugo Distler | Rockefeller Chapel Choir | 20th Century German Sacred Music | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Letzter Teil: Golgotha | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Lo How A rose E'Er Blooming | Hugo Distler | San Francisco Choral Artists | Star of Wonder - Music For The Season | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming | Hugo Distler | Concordia Choir | Faire is the Heaven | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Lo! How a E'er Blooming (from the Christmas Story) | Hugo Distler | Rockefeller Chapel Choir | 20th Century German Sacred Music | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming | Hugo Distler | Patrick Liebergen | Favorite Christmas Classics for Solo Singers - Medium Low | Songbook & CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Maria durch ein Dornwald ging | Hugo Distler | Esoterics | Beata - Songs to the blessed virgin | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| O Heiland, reiss die Himmel auf (Opus 21, Pt. 2, No. 3) | Hugo Distler | Rockefeller Chapel Choir | 20th Century German Sacred Music | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Sechster Teil: Pilatus | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Opus 12. No. 1) | Hugo Distler | Rockefeller Chapel Choir | 20th Century German Sacred Music | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Spruchmotetten zum Totensonntag | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Toccata from Orgel Partita Opus 8 No. 2 | Hugo Distler | Luther College Nordic Choir | Christmas 2004 | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Totentanz | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Variations from Opus 10 | Hugo Distler | Minnesota Choral Artists | Shout the Glad Tidings! | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Vierter Teil: Gethsemane | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS | ||
| Zweiter Teil: Judas und der Pharisaer Rat | Hugo Distler | Netherlands Chamber Choir | Hugo Distler | 1 CD | MORE DETAILS |
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