Léon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM (12 June 1897 – 13 February 1988) was a British oboist.
He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music. His father was violinist and conductor Eugène Goossens, his brother the conductor and composer Eugene Aynsley Goossens and his sister the harpist Sidonie Goossens.
During the early and middle parts of the 20th century, he was the premiere oboe player in the world. He joined the Queen's Hall Orche...
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Léon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM (12 June 1897 – 13 February 1988) was a British oboist.
He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music. His father was violinist and conductor Eugène Goossens, his brother the conductor and composer Eugene Aynsley Goossens and his sister the harpist Sidonie Goossens.
During the early and middle parts of the 20th century, he was the premiere oboe player in the world. He joined the Queen's Hall Orchestra (conducted by Henry J. Wood) at the age of 15 and was later (1932) engaged by Sir Thomas Beecham for the newly-founded London Philharmonic Orchestra, but he also enjoyed a rich solo and chamber-music career. He became famous for a unique pleasing sound no other oboist 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), but Goossens brought together the best qualities of both styles.
Goossens...
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