Hugo  Distler  studied organ with Günther Ramin and  composition with Hermann  Grabner  in  Leipzig .<br>
<br>
He then worked as cantor and organist at St. Jacobi in Lübeck  and taught composition and organ  at the Stuttgart  Musikhochschule  from 1937 onwards.<br>
<br>
In 1940 he took up the same position at the Berlin Musikhochschule  and also became director of  the Berlin Cathedral Choir in 1941.<br>
<br>
Considerably influenced by the Lübeck Stellwagen organ at St. Jacobi, he championed the  characteristic pre-Baroque and Baroque sound of the organ and the forms which  best suited it. His stylistic preference was for a specifically neo-Baroque,  functional-objective type of sound.<br>
<br>
This critical edition with previously unpublished works includes the forewords of the first editions,  facsimiles,  a  critical commentary for each volume as  well as a list of sources.<br>