Born in Nuremberg, Distler attended the Leipzig Conservatory from 1927 to 1931, first as a conducting student with piano as his secondary subject, but changing later, on the advice of his teacher, to composition and organ.

[1] He became increasingly depressed owing to the deaths of friends, aerial attacks, restrictions placed upon his teaching, a sense of isolation, and the constant threat of conscription into the German Army, all of it culminating in his suicide in Berlin at the age of 34.

[3] However, his suicide was probably not a direct result of antagonistic government pressure; "rather, it appears that he saw the futility of attempting to serve both God and Nazis, and came to terms with his own conscience unequivocally.

His works are a re-invention of old forms and genres, rich with word painting, based on the music of Heinrich Schütz and other early composers.

Distler's style was spread by choirs in Germany and abroad during the years after World War II, stimulating and influencing other later composers.