Download KTM 291 THE MUSIC OF EUGENE GOOSSENS First

KTM 291
THE MUSIC OF EUGENE GOOSSENS
First broadcast on ABC Classic FM on 1 August, 2009
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Welcome to Keys To Music; my name's Graham Abbott. Great to have your company.
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It's a sad reality that a person's achievements, even their greatness, can be overshadowed by a single
event which serves to blot out so much that is good. I'm we could all think of examples from the worlds
of politics, royalty, sport, art…
In the world of music there is a figure who was in his day a fine conductor and a fine composer,
someone who had a major influence on the artistic life of Australia, and yet all his achievements in both
conducting and composition count for very little in the eyes of some because of one scandalous event.
He is of course Sir Eugene Goossens.
Eugene Goossens By the Tarn, Op 15 No 1 (orchestral version)
EMI 7 49933 2 track 6 (start at 0'00, play to 0'30 then fade under the following - music continues)
In this program I want to talk about the music of Goossens in its own right. That he was a great
conductor is not in question. After studying in Bruges and London and establishing himself as a fine
violinist, he rapidly rose to prominence as a conductor, initially as an assistant to Sir Thomas Beecham.
He championed new music, and like his father and grandfather before him, was a renowned conductor
of opera.
That Goossens' career was ruined by the scandal which befell him in Australia in 1956 is also not in
question. His association with Roseleen Norton and her followers in Kings Cross, taking part in sexual
rituals, was enough to for him to have been charged with "scandalous conduct", which he wasn't. He
was charged, however, with the importation of material then considered pornographic when this material
was found in his possession on returning to Australia on a flight from Britain. This public humiliation was
enough to make him flee the country and, in the opinion of many, it hastened his death, with occurred
six years later.
The scandal was enough to also blot out for decades Goossens' name from the list of fine composers in
the first half of the 20th century. Fortunately this situation has been changing in recent years as more of
Goossens' music has become available on recordings. In this program I want to share just a little of the
unjustly-neglected music which flowed from the pen of this amazing musician.
Aynsley Eugene Goossens was born in London in 1893. He studied violin and composition at the Royal
College of Music in London. His contemporaries included Arthur Benjamin, Arthur Bliss and Herbert
Howells.
In April 1912 both sides of his professional life - composing and conducting - made simultaneous debuts
when he conducted his Variations on a Chinese Theme at an RCM concert. Goossens' Variations
impressed those who heard the 19 year old composer conduct it in 1912. It was repeated - again under
the composer's baton - the following year at the Proms. This is the 6th variation.
Eugene Goossens Variations on a Chinese Theme, Op 1: 6th variation
ABC 476 7632 disc 3 track 10 (1'11)
In the period up to the early 20s Goossens became established as one of Britain's leading conductors.
He became famous for being able to take over from other conductors at very short notice and he had a
prodigious facility for being able to take in complex scores rapidly. In 1921 he formed his own orchestra
and launched a series of contemporary music concerts. Among other achievements he directed the
British concert premiere of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, but this period saw him no less active as a
composer.
He wrote chamber music and piano music as well as works for orchestra. Among his chamber music are
pieces which show an effortless assimilation of French styles - particularly the world of Debussy - and
more English pastoral idioms. The Four Sketches for flute violin and piano date from 1913.
Eugene Goossens Four Sketches, Op 5: Humoresque
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AMU88 track 5 (2'36)
Avoiding service in the first world war due to a heart defect, Goossens produced a great deal of music
for piano at this time. Perhaps his best known solo piano work is Kaleidoscope, a suite of 12 short
pieces which was completed in 1918. These short pieces evoke the world of Schumann's Scenes from
Childhood, Tchaikovsky's Children's Album, and Debussy's Children's Corner. This movement from
Goossens' suite is called "Lament for a Departed Doll".
Eugene Goossens Kaleidoscope, Op 18: Lament for a Departed Doll
ABC476 7636 disc 1 track 10 (1'40)
In London in the early 20s, Goossens produced highly accomplished works across all the fields already
mentioned: orchestral, chamber and piano music. The Rhythmic Dance for two pianos (dating from
1920) began life as a work for pianola, and the two-piano version was followed by arrangements for
orchestra and band some years later. There are hints of the world of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky in
this music, yet it also fits perfectly into the world of English music of the time.
Eugene Goossens Rhythmic Dance, Op 30
ABC 476 7636 disc 2 track 2 (3'44)
Goossens' own orchestral concerts of contemporary music in London eventually ended when the project
went bankrupt. The United States then beckoned when George Eastman asked Goossens to be the
conductor of the newly-formed Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1923. This began a fruitful
period in which Goossens developed his reputation as both conductor and composer on both sides of
the Atlantic.
Just before taking up his post in Rochester, Goossens had his Phantasy Sextet performed at the
Berkshire Festival of Chamber Music. The work was written in enormous haste as his conducting
engagements had crowded his diary to the exclusion of composition for the first half of 1923. He created
a work in a single movement but with three contrasting sections, and it's a remarkable piece, full of
freshness and energy. Rather than being scored for the more usual pairs of violins, violas and cellos,
Goossens chose to write the work for three violins, one viola and two cellos. Here's how it ends.
Eugene Goossens Phantasy Sextet, Op 37 (extract)
Chandos 9472 track 6 (fade up to be audible from 2'15, play to end of track) (= c. 2'20)
In his piano music, Goossens was largely a miniaturist. His works are usually collections of short pieces
on an intimate scale which say what they have to say eloquently and with great finesse and charm.
Often the piano works are programmatic; Kaleidoscope was a good example of this. In 1924, Goossens
produced a set of three short piano preludes called Ships in which each movement describes a different
sort of ocean craft. Here Goossens shows himself more aligned with European composers like
Honegger who reflected modern technology in their music, and incidentally, all of Goossens' piano
music displays the fact that he was, in addition to everything else, an excellent pianist. This is the third
piece from the set, called "The Liner".
Eugene Goossens Ships, Op 42: The Liner
ABC 476 7636 disc 1 track 19 (2'50)
Despite being established in the USA, Goossens returned to England every year to undertake
conducting engagements. Among the major works he composed during this time was his one act opera
Judith, based on the gory story of justified decapitation from the Old Testament apocrypha. This was
written in 1925 and premiered at Covent Garden four years later.
Judith requires a cast of five singers and takes around an hour and a quarter to perform. At the time
inevitable comparisons were made with Strauss's Salome, on the basis of style and of subject matter,
but Goossens' work makes quite a different effect on the listener and in my opinion is certainly due for
revival and reassessment. This is the final section of the opera, in which Judith lulls Holofernes into her
power only to hack off his head. It comes from a studio recording of the complete work made in Sydney
in 1980. It features two great Australian singers who are sadly no longer with us: Raymond Myers as
Holofernes, and Pearl Berridge as Judith.
Eugene Goossens Judith, Op 55 (extract)
AMU99 track 3 (fade up just before 24'00 after the soprano finishes, to be audible by the time the
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baritone sings, "I will kiss thy lips". Play to end of track) (= c. 5'00)
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"AMU" recordings are from the ABC's Australian Music Unit and not available commercially.
"AMU" recordings are from the ABC's Australian Music Unit and not available commercially.
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Quite apart from being the son and grandson of famous conductors, Goossens was part of an amazingly
talented musical family, the eldest of five children who were all astounding musicians. Leon Goossens
was one of the world's greatest oboists, and his sisters Sidonie and Marie were renowned harpists.
Their brother, Adolphe, was a fine horn player but tragically was killed in action in the first world war.
The generation was amazingly long-lived, ending only with the death of Sidonie Goossens in 2004 at the
age of 105.
In 1927 Goossens wrote an oboe concerto for his brother Leon, a single movement work full of elegance
and colour which seems to tread well the fine line between the lyrical beauty of which the oboe is
capable and the technical demands required in a concerto. This is how it opens.
Eugene Goossens Oboe Concerto (extract)
ABC 476 7632 disc 1 track 5 (first 2'40 then fade out)
By the end of the 20s Goossens' reputation as a conductor could accurately be described as being
"international". He was regarded as one of the most important British musicians of his time, not only as a
conductor, but it was his conducting work which naturally attracted the most glamour, especially in the
United States. In 1931 he was appointed musical director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,
replacing Fritz Reiner in the post. During the 30s Goossens' output as a composer slowed dramatically,
writing relatively few works. He was clearly a success in Cincinnati; he stayed in the post for 15 years
while of course continuing to conduct elsewhere in the USA and in Britain.
The major work to appear during this period was the first of his two symphonies, which was begun in
1938 and completed in 1940. The work was received politely at its early performances in the United
States, as well as later ones in Britain during the second world war, but Goossens was now finding that
he was regarded as part of the "old school" rather than a "bright young thing". The first symphony is,
with the benefit of hindsight, demonstrably an excellent work, more than 40 minutes in duration, the
work of a mature and skilled composer. This is the opening of the third movement.
Eugene Goossens Symphony no 1: 3rd mvt (extract)
ABC 476 7632 disc 1 track 3 (first 3'10 then fade out)
One of Goossens' enduring legacies to the musical world came about during his time in Cincinnati. In
1942 he commissioned 18 American composers to write stirring and patriotic fanfares to be played at
the orchestra's concerts that season, as a contribution to the war effort. Most of these are rarely heard
today but one has become a classic. Aaron Copland's contribution was his Fanfare for the Common
Man.
Goossens began his second symphony two years after the first and completed it in 1945. He himself
admitted that the second is reflective of the wartime in which it was composed. Like the first symphony it
shows a composer totally at ease in manipulating large forms and completely at home in writing for the
orchestra. It too was received with mixed feelings by those who heard its early performances, sensing a
composer out of touch with the latest music, writing in an old fashioned form in an old fashioned way.
Others criticised him for being too influenced by all the music he was conducting, and not really finding
his own voice.
While there may be merit in some of these ideas, the fact remains that the second symphony says
important things in an impressive way and it, like the rest of Goossens' output, displays a technique
which is rarely encountered today.
Eugene Goossens Symphony no 2: 4th mvt (extract)
ABC 476 7632 disc 2 track 4 (fade up to be audible from side drum entry at 3'48, play to 8'00 then fade
out) (= c. 4'10)
In 1946 Goossens was offered one of the most prestigious appointments in the British musical
establishment: musical director of the newly formed Covent Garden Royal Opera and Ballet Company.
He turned it down, it is said, because he would be subservient to the company's general administrator.
Rather he left the United States and moved to Australia, taking up the simultaneous appointments of
chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (the first person to hold that title) and director of the
NSW State Conservatorium of Music.
In 1951 Goossens revived Judith at the Sydney Conservatorium. To the surprise of many he selected a
young soprano to sing the title role who was not at a student there but in whom he sensed some
potential. It was in fact this soprano's operatic debut but she went on to have a pretty good career; her
name was Joan Sutherland.
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In 1954 Goossens premiered in Sydney a work which occupied him for something like ten years: his
gigantic oratorio The Apocalypse, a work regarded by many as the climax of Goossens' career as a
composer. Scored for gargantuan orchestral and vocal forces, it too is due for serious reassessment on
the part of performers and audience alike.
Eugene Goossens The Apocalypse, Op 64 (extract)
ABC L 70225/6 (LP) (side 4, fade up to be audible from 11'16, play to 14'40) (= c. 3'30)
In the nine years Goossens spent in Sydney he conducted major works which had never been
performed in this country - The Rite of Spring, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, orchestral works of
Richard Strauss - the list is incredible. He developed the SSO's playing to extraordinarily high
standards, and is the person generally held responsible for promoting the idea that Sydney's new opera
house should be built on Bennelong Point. Goossens became the centre of Sydney's social elite and
was knighted in 1955, a fact which made his eventual fall in the scandal of 1956 all the more tragic.
After his return to London in 1956 Goossens lived another six years. He was, in the words of Richard
Bonynge (who visited him at the time) "absolutely destroyed" but he was offered work by the BBC and
he made some significant recordings.
As a composer, his most important work of the final years was probably the Concert Piece op 65, a work
written for the unusual combination of oboe (doubling cor anglais), two harps and orchestra. Of course,
the solo parts were written for his siblings Leon, Sidonie and Marie and it dates from 1958. It shows
Goossens, among other things, conceding far more to the gestures of modernism than his earlier works
had allowed. This is part of the middle movement, called "Chorale".
Eugene Goossens Concert Piece, Op 65: Chorale (extract)
ABC 476 7632 disc 1 track 8 (first 2'51 only)
Sir Eugene Goossens died in Hillingdon in Middlesex in June 1962 at the age of 69. With major releases
of Goossens' orchestral music and piano music on CD in recent years, and the chamber works starting
to appear as well, Goossens' work as a composer is finally able to be assessed with some sort of clarity.
His connection with Australia makes him of special significance to our musical psyche and I hope this
program has given you the inspiration to explore his music for its own sake.
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As always my thanks to Michael Rogers for the production of Keys To Music, and this is Graham Abbott
wishing you a week full of wonderful musical discoveries.
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For further information online:
Eugene Goossens on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Aynsley_Goossens
Eugene Goossens' entry at the Australian Music Centre:
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/goossens-eugene
Eugene Goossens' entry at the Australian Dictionary of Biography:
http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140334b.htm
Further Reading:
"Belonging" by Renée Goossens. This remarkable memoir by Eugene Goossens' daughter (who I have
had the privilege of meeting since this program went to air) is a testament to her courage and
determination in the face of extraordinary odds. More details can be found here:
http://reneegoossens.com/
Please note these sites are independent of the ABC and the ABC is not responsible for their content.
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© Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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