François Joseph Gossec (1734 - 1829) Belgique François-Joseph Gossec (January 17, 1734 ? February 16, 1829) was a Belgian composer of operas, string quartets, symphonies, and choral works who worked in France. The son of a small farmer, Gossec was born at the village of Vergnies, in Belgian Hainaut. Showing an early taste for music, he became a choir-boy in Antwerp. He went to Paris in 1751 and was taken on by the great composer, Jean-Philippe Rameau. He became the conductor of a private band kept by La Popelinière, a wealthy amateur, and became gradually determined to do something to revive the study of instrumental music in France.
Although most people would have difficulty recognizing Gossec's Gavotte by its title, the melody itself remains familiar in the United States and elsewhere because Carl Stalling used an arrangement of it in several Warner Brothers cartoons.
He was little known outside France, and his own numerous compositions, sacred and secular, were overshadowed by those of more famous composers; but he was an inspiration to many, and powerfully stimulated the revival of instrumental music. (Hide extended text)...(Read all) Source : Wikipedia
Belgique
francois-joseph-gossec
