Eva-Maria Houben (born 15 January 1955) is a German composer, organist, pianist,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and university lecturer.

Life

Born in

Rheinberg Rheinberg () is a town in the Wesel (district), district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. north of Moers and south of Wesel. It comprises the municipal districts of Rheinberg, B ...

, Houben grew up in

Kamp-Lintfort Kamp-Lintfort () is a town in Wesel District, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north-west of Moers. Notable people * Adolf Storms (1919–2010), member of the Waffen-SS and war criminal *Werner Fuchs (1927–2005), painter *Bri ...

. Her mother worked as a special education teacher, her father was a machine steiger and presbyter in the Protestant village church of . There, Houben provided the organ service during her secondary school time. After her Abitur she studied school music at the

Folkwang University of the Arts The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in E ...

(1974–78) and artistic organ playing with Gisbert Schneider (1978–80). Her teachers at the Folkwang Hochschule also included Mauricio Rosenmann Taub (music theory) and Ludger Maxsein (piano). From 1978 to 1982 Houben was organist at the Evangelische Stadtkirche

Dinslaken Dinslaken is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is known for its harness racing track, its now closed coal mine in Lohberg and its wealthy neighborhoods ''Hiesfeld'' and ''Eppinghoven''. Geography Dinslaken ...

and applied to

German Studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

at the

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

. In 1984–86 she taught music and German at the and at the Gymnasium an der Gartenstraße in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...

Rheydt Rheydt () is a borough of the Germany, German city Mönchengladbach, located in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 1918 and then again from 1933 (due to a split from Mönchengladbach arranged by Joseph Goebbels, who was born there) through ...

. After obtaining her

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

(1986, with

Norbert Linke Norbert Linke (5 March 1933 – 10 November 2020) was a German composer and musicologist. Life Linke was born in Ścinawa, Province of Lower Silesia. While at school in Celle, Linke composed the Singspiel ''Der Nachtwächter'' (after the farc ...

) and her

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

(1990) in musicology, Houben became a lecturer at the University of Duisburg (1987–93) and the

Robert Schumann Hochschule The Robert Schumann Hochschule (Robert Schumann University of Music and Media) is a school for music studies at the university level located in Düsseldorf. The University has a student body of some 850 coming from over 40 countries. Forty-seven f ...

(1992/93). In 1993 she was appointed professor at the Institute for Music and Musicology of the

Technical University Dortmund TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and ...

. Her research and teaching focuses on

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

and contemporary musik. She organizes concerts with compositions by students, who are also given the opportunity to exchange ideas with experienced colleagues in her series of ''Composer Portraits'' (since 1993 among others with Nikolaus Brass,

Violeta Dinescu Violeta Dinescu (born 13 July 1953, in Bucharest) is a Romanian composer, pianist and professor, living in Germany since 1982. Romania Violeta Dinescu began her studies of music in 1972 at the conservatory ''Ciprian Porumbescu'' in Bucharest, c ...

Vinko Globokar Vinko Globokar (born 7 July 1934) is a French-Slovenian avant-garde composer and trombonist. Globokar's music uses unconventional and extended techniques, places great emphasis on spontaneity and creativity, and often relies on improvisation. Hi ...

and

Adriana Hölszky Adriana Hölszky (born 30 June 1953) is a Romanian-born German music educator, composer and pianist who has been living in Germany since 1976. Biography Hölszky was born in Bucharest. In the years 1959-1969 she studied piano with Olga Rosca-Be ...

). Houben has published regularly in magazines (', '' Neue Musikzeitung'', ''

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 'Die'' (; en, " heNew Journal of Music") is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appeared on 3 April 1834. Histo ...

'', ''

Das Orchester ''Das Orchester'' is a German-language magazine for musicians and management which has been published eleven times a year since 1953 by Schott Music and is distributed in over 45 countries worldwide. The editor-in-chief is based in Berlin while ...

'', ') and has performed as organist and pianist (among others in the piano series at the ').

Compositional aesthetics and practice

Listening to delicate dynamics up to

silence Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...

, the sensitization for sound processes and perceptual processes play a central role in Houben's musical thinking. She also plays pieces by

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

as a pianist. The compositions of Houben are published by the

Edition Wandelweiser The Wandelweiser Group is a collective for composers and performers of contemporary classical music. Inspired by the work of John Cage, the Wandelweiser Group writes experimental music, which is typically of a very quiet nature and often incor ...

; in the ''Wandelweiser Komponisten Ensemble'' she works with

Antoine Beuger Antoine Beuger (born 3 July 1955 in Oosterhout, Netherlands) is a Dutch composer, flautist, and music publisher. He is a founder of the Wandelweiser group. Biography Beuger studied composition from 1973 to 1978 with Ton de Leeuw at the Conservatori ...

, Burkhard Schlothauer,

Jürg Frey Jürg Frey (born 15 May 1953) is a Swiss composer and clarinettist. He is a member of the Wandelweiser Group. Biography Jürg Frey was born in 1953 in Aarau, Switzerland. He studied clarinet in Concervatoire de Musique de Genève, composition ...

Radu Malfatti Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone and harmonica player, and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. Malfatti is associated with the style of music known as reductionism and has been described as "a ...

among others. Her special interest lies beyond these integrative performance projects, in which musicians and

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

work together, and the creation of Raumklang- installations, which at a certain location (for example in a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

) point the way ahead to an upcoming concert or allow it to resonate afterwards.

Quote

Publications

* ''Violeta Dinescu''. * ''Musikalische Praxis als Lebensform : Sinnfindung und Wirklichkeitserfahrung beim Musizieren''. * ''Die Aufhebung der Zeit : zur Utopie unbegrenzter Gegenwart in der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts''. * ''Gelb : neues Hören ; Vinko Globokar, Hans-Joachim Hespos, Adriana Hölszky''. * ''Jürg Frey : Werkbetrachtungen, Reflexionen, Gespräche''.''Jürg Frey : Werkbetrachtungen, Reflexionen, Gespräche''
on WorldCat

References

External links