Eva Rieger


Eva Rieger is a German musicologist. Rieger specialized in the social and cultural history of women in music. Together with the German-Swiss patron Mariann Steegmann, Rieger founded the Mariann-Steegmann-Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of women in music and art. In 2012, she was appointed Honorary Senator of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

Early years and education

Eva Rieger was born in London in 1953 to German pastor Julius Rieger and librarian Johanna Krüger Rieger, and later moved to Berlin. Eva studied music education, musicology, and English studies at the Technical University of Berlin, and earned her doctorate in 1976 with a thesis on music education in East Germany.

Career

From 1978 to 1991, Rieger was an Academic Councilor at the University of Göttingen and the University of Hildesheim. Beginning in 1991, she was a Professor of Historical Musicology at the University of Bremen, with a focus on the social history of music. Rieger also was a member of the Advisory Board for Feministische Studien from 1988 to 1992.
Rieger has given lectures in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe. In 1996, she co-founded the "Women and Gender Research" department at the German Society for Music Research. Rieger was an active participant and jury member at the "Feminist Theory and Music" conference in the United States on several occasions. In 2000, Rieger co-founded the Mariann Steegmann Foundation in collaboration with Mariann Steegmann. This foundation operates the "Mariann Steegmann Art & Gender Institute" at the University of Bremen as well as the "Research Center for Music and Gender" at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. In 2009 Rieger was Corresponding Member of the American Musicological Society.

Research

Rieger's research focuses on gender issues in musical culture. She wrote a musicological study on the discrimination of women in German musical culture and used her work to advocate for the equality of women at all levels of musical culture. She has also written on film music, music education, and the life and works of Richard Wagner. Rieger has published several books in Great Britain, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea. Her articles have been published such journals as Die Musikforschung, Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, Feministische Studien, and others.

Personal life

Rieger struggled with her sexuality until she had her first relationship with a woman at the age of thirty. She became affiliated with the :de:Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin|Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin group, which she described as her "salvation."

Selected works