Distler’s life, music topic of lecture

German composer and organist Hugo Distler (1908-1942) is the subject of this year’s Hans Moldenhauer Memorial Lecture on Monday at Whitworth University.

Distler, a forward-thinking composer who was instrumental in changing the face of liturgical music in Germany and elsewhere, faced special challenges as a Lutheran under the Nazi regime.

His life and music will be discussed by Donivan Johnson, a composer and music instructor with Northeast Washington’s Selkirk School District. Johnson started the lecture series in 1994 in the memory of the late Spokane musicologist Hans Moldenhauer.

The lecture begins Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Whitworth’s Music Building Recital Hall. Johnson also will discuss Distler that morning during Verne Windham’s classical music show on KPBX-FM (91.1).