Eva-Maria Houben’s Lyrik: The “In-Between”

Abstract

The paper offers a semiotic analysis of Eva-Maria Houben’s Lyrik, assessing its position, meaning and significance within the historical and cultural context of the twentieth-century musical Reductionist Post-Cagean art music. To do that it traces and analyzes some Reductionist options, as manifested in the American and European cultural milieu of the second half of that century, focusing mainly on the aesthetics of the Wandelweiser group of composers. Hopefully the conclusions will contribute to a richer, more discerning appreciation of thought-trends and styles as they are expressed and materialized in today’s music.