Hugo Distler is the most famous representative of German church music of the last century. His organ and choral music, inspired by the early baroque, fitted wonderfully well with the then prevailing fashions of professionalism and youth movements. Unfortunately, the rising Nazism was also part of the zeitgeist. The extremely nervous Distler, although a member of the NSDAP, was ultimately unable to
… cope with all kinds of threats and harassment. After being drafted into military service, he decided to take his own life on November 1, 1942. Just a day later, the exemption papers fell in the mailbox of his family. The Mörike-Chorliederbuch is considered a highlight of 20th-century German music. This collection brought Distler much public fame at a festival in Graz in 1939. And that while Distler's music was almost condemned as an 'entartet' the year before. The Choral Passion recalls the word expression of Distler's great role model, Heinrich Schütz. Highlights of the Geistliche Chormusik include the rhythmically nervous Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme and the poignantly dissonant Führwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit. (HJ)more
