Eugène Goossens (28 January 1867 – 31 July 1958) was a French-born conductor and violinist. To distinguish him from his conductor father and his composer son of the same name he is often referred to as Eugene Goossens II.

Career

Goossens was born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and studied in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

Banfield, Stephen
Eugène Goossens (II)
''Grove Music Online'' (subscription required); accessed 13 October 2009. and the conservatoire in Brussels. He moved to England with his father, Eugène Goossens, père, in 1873,''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' obituary, 2 August 1958, p. 8. and after a period of service with the Carl Rosa Opera Company as violinist, répétiteur and deputy conductor under the direction of his father he entered the Royal Academy of Music in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1891. After conducting other opera companies including the Moody-Manners Company he rejoined the Carl Rosa company, serving from 1889 to 1915 as principal conductor. He conducted part of Sir Thomas Beecham's opera season at His Majesty's Theatre in 1917. In 1926 he joined the British National Opera Company as a conductor. Goossens married a Carl Rosa singer, Annie Cook, who was the daughter of a well-known bass singer, T. Aynsley Cook. Their children were the composer and conductor Sir Eugene Goossens, the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ists Marie Goossens (1894–1991) and Sidonie Goossens (1899–2004), the horn player Adolphe Goossens (1896–1916) and the oboist Léon Goossens (1897–1988).

References

1867 births 1958 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music British male conductors (music) British male violinists English classical violinists English conductors (music) French emigrants to England French male conductors (music) French people of Belgian descent Eugene Goossens, fils Musicians from Bordeaux Musicians from London People from Fulham Male classical violinists {{violinist-stub