Eugène Goossens (25 February 1845 – 30 December 1906) was a Belgian conductor.

Biography

He was born in Bruges and studied music as a child at the Church of Our Lady, Bruges, then at the Bruges Conservatoire. At the age of fourteen, he was admitted to the conservatoire in Brussels, where he studied composition. He conducted opera companies throughout Europe, moving to England in 1873. There he conducted for the company of Selina Dolaro under the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte in 1876. In May 1878, for Carte, he conducted '' The Sorcerer'' by

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

and also conducted ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which ...

'' in July and August 1878, while

Alfred Cellier Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing th ...

was assisting

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

at the promenade concerts at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. He also conducted a "special operatic performance" of ''

'' at The Crystal Palace on 6 July 1878. Goossens became famous as a musical director of the Carl Rosa Opera Company, for whom he conducted the first English performance of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's '' Tannhäuser'', in Liverpool in 1882. He became principal conductor of Carl Rosa in 1889. He conducted Rosa's company in a command performance, in November 1892, of ''

The Daughter of the Regiment ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'' for Queen Victoria at

Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...

. He was the father of the conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and grandfather of the conductor and composer Sir Eugene Goossens, the harpist

Sidonie Goossens Annie Sidonie Goossens OBE (19 October 1899 – 15 December 2004) was one of Britain's most enduring harpists. She made her professional debut in 1921, was a founder member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and went on to play for more than half ...

and the oboist

Léon Goossens Léon Jean Goossens, CBE, FRCM (12 June 1897 – 13 February 1988) was an English oboist. Career Goossens was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and studied at Liverpool College of Music and the Royal College of Music. His father was violinist and ...

.Rosen, Carole. ''The Goossens: A Musical Century'' (1993) In the early 1890s, he moved to Liverpool, where he founded the "Goossens Male-voice Choir," served as organist and choirmaster at St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church and taught singing. He died in Liverpool in 1906 at the age of 61.

Notes

External links

Eugene Goossens
at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company {{DEFAULTSORT:Goossens, Eugene, Pere 1845 births 1906 deaths Musicians from Bruges Belgian conductors (music) Belgian male musicians Male conductors (music) Eugene Goossens, pere Belgian emigrants to the United Kingdom 19th-century Belgian male musicians