Léon Jean Goossens,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, FRCM (12 June 1897 – 13 February 1988) was an English

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

Career

Goossens was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, and studied at Liverpool College of Music and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

. His father was

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist and conductor Eugène Goossens, his brother the conductor and composer

Eugene Aynsley Goossens Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens (; 26 May 189313 June 1962) was an English conducting, conductor and composer. Biography He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens, fils, Eugène Goossens ( ...

and his sisters the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of 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 orche ...

ists Marie and

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 ...

John Warrack John Hamilton Warrack (born 1928, in London) is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. Warrack is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. He was educated at Winchester College (1941-6) and then at the Royal College ...

, "Goossens, Léon Jean (1897–1988)", in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004)
online edition
accessed 30 January 2008. During the early and middle parts of the 20th century, he was considered among the premier oboists in the world. He joined the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it ...

Orchestra (conducted by

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hund ...

) at the age of 15 and was later (1932) engaged by Sir

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...

for the newly founded

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, but he also enjoyed a rich solo and chamber-music career. He became famous for a uniquely pleasing sound few other oboists could match. Oboists of the past had tended to be divided between the French school (elegant but thin and reedy in tone) and the German (full and rounded but rather clumsy, with little or no

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

), but Goossens brought together the best qualities of both styles. Goossens commissioned a number of works for the oboe from such distinguished composers as Sir

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

and

Rutland Boughton Rutland Boughton (23 January 187825 January 1960) was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music. He was also an influential communist activist within the Communist Party of Gre ...

and collaborated extensively with other prominent soloists such as

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

. Amongst his many pupils were the oboists

Evelyn Barbirolli Evelyn, Lady Barbirolli OBE (24 January 191125 January 2008) was an English oboist, and the wife of the eminent conductor Sir John Barbirolli. She was born Evelyn Rothwell, and was known professionally by that name until after she was widowed, ...

, Joy Boughton, daughter of Rutland Boughton and

Peter Graeme Graeme Peter Crump (1921 – 1 March 2012), known professionally as Peter Graeme and as 'Timmy' Crump to friends and family, was an English oboist and academic teacher. He was best known as the principal oboist of the Melos Ensemble. Career ...

, oboist of the

Melos Ensemble The Melos Ensemble is a group of musicians who started in 1950 in London to play chamber music in mixed instrumentation of string instruments, wind instruments and others. Benjamin Britten composed the chamber music for his ''War Requiem'' for the ...

.Bliss. Clarinet Quintet. Oboe Quintet. Melos Ensemble
Gramophone He was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 1950 and made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1962.

Works commissioned/dedicated to Léon Goossens

* Concerto for Oboe and Strings, Op. 39
Malcolm Arnold
* Oboe Quartet, Op. 61 (1957)
Malcolm Arnold
* Sonatina for Oboe and Piano, Op. 28
Malcolm Arnold
* Quintet for Oboe and Strings,

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

* Quintet for Oboe and Strings,

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

* Concerto No. 2 for Oboe and Strings in G,

* Sonata for Oboe and Piano,

York Bowen Edwin York Bowen (22 February 1884 – 23 November 1961) was an English composer and pianist. Bowen's musical career spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. As well as being a pianist and composer, Bowen was a ...

* ''

Phantasy Quartet ''Phantasy Quartet'', Op. 2, is the common name of a piece of chamber music by Benjamin Britten, a quartet for oboe and string trio composed in 1932. In the composer's catalogue, it is given as ''Phantasy'', subtitled: Quartet in one movement fo ...

'' for oboe, violin, viola and cello,

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

* Sonata for Oboe and Piano,

Arnold Cooke Arnold Atkinson Cooke (4 November 1906 – 13 August 2005) was a British composer.Biography by Eric Wetherell, British Music Society/ref> Education Cooke was born at Gomersal, West Yorkshire, into a family of carpet manufacturers. As a child, ...

''Leon Goossens plays Arnold Cooke'', Oboe Classics CC2317 (2021)
/ref> * Three Pieces for Oboe and Piano,

Thomas Dunhill Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1 February 187713 March 1946) was a prolific English composer in many genres, though he is best known today for his light music and educational piano works. His compositions include much chamber music, a song cycle, '' ...

* ''Soliloquy'' for oboe,

* ''Idyll'' for oboe and orchestra (1926), Harry Farjeon * Interlude, Op. 21, for oboe and string quartet,

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

* Concerto, Op. 45, by his brother Eugene Goossens * ''Parfums de Nuits'', three miniatures for oboe and orchestra (1922),

Hyam Greenbaum Hyam 'Bumps' Greenbaum (12 May 1901 – 13 May 1942) was an English conductor, violinist and composer, who, in 1936, became the world's first conductor of a television orchestra. He was friendly with many of his English music contemporaries, incl ...

Rosen, Carole. ''The Goossens: A Musical Century'' (1993) * Sonata for Oboe and Piano,

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

* Quartet for Oboe and Strings,

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about m ...

* French Suite for Oboe and Piano, Alan Richardson * Concerto in A minor for Oboe and Strings,

References

External links

From Oboe ClassicsBritish Double Reed Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goossens, Leon 1897 births 1988 deaths 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English musicians Alumni of the Royal College of Music Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English classical oboists English people of Belgian descent Fellows of the Royal College of Music

Leon Goossens Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Male oboists Musicians from Liverpool Musicians from Royal Tunbridge Wells Musicians from Kent People from Fulham