John Goss(10 May 1894 – 13 February 1953) was a baritone recital singer and teacher. He was a key figure in 1920s English musical life, befriending composers such asRebecca Clarke,Frederick Delius,Bernard van Dieren,E J MoeranandPeter Warlock.[1]He became well known for his concerts mixing classical lieder and English art song with what he called "sociable songs" - folk song, popular drinking songs, army songs and sea shanties.[2]He moved to Canada in 1939, where he stayed until 1950.[3]
England
editBorn in London, Goss only took up singing as a profession while in his mid-20s. Before that he had studied atRuskin College,Oxford and worked at a variety of labouring jobs.[4]His teachers wereVictor BeigelandReinhold von Warlich.His first engagement as vocalist was with a touring concert party, The Buskins. Goss built his reputation from 1920 onwards as a recitalist (he never performed in opera or oratorio),[5]touring extensively in Europe, the US, Japan and Canada.[4]Hubert Fosswas his frequent accompanist in the UK.[6]
As a well-known bon vivant he became a key member of the Peter Warlock circle and championed the set of English composers surrounding Warlock at that time.[3]He was a frequent visitor to Warlock's cottage inEynsford,Kent.[7]Goss sang in the second performance of Warlock'sThe Curlew,at the Hyde Park Hotel on 31 January 1923 with the Charles Woodhouse string quartet andLéon Goossensplaying the cor anglais.[8]
Goss helped revive theBritish balladform through his recordings forHMVin 1925 at itsHayesrecording studios with the Cathedral Male Quartet,[2]and (in the 1930s) with the London Singers. He also helped Warlock with the revival of interest in Jacobean and Elizabethanlute songs.[3]He recorded a sequence of Warlock songs for HMV in 1928.[9]
Although married at the time, between 1927 and 1933 he was romantically involved with the composerRebecca Clarke.Two of her songs were dedicated to him: "June Twilight" and "The Seal Man". Her "Tiger, Tiger", finished at the time the relationship was ending, proved to be her last composition for solo voice until the early 1940s.[10]
Goss became interested in the music of Delius through his friendship with Warlock. He performed in two broadcast premieres at the Delius Festival of 1929, on 18 October atQueen's Hall:Arabeskfor baritone, chorus and orchestra, andCynarafor baritone and orchestra, with the British Broadcasting Orchestra and London Select Choir, conducted byThomas Beecham.[11]
He was active in left wing politics his entire life. In London in 1938 he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and formed theUnity Male Voice Choir.But clashes over repertoire with the committee organising the 1939 Festival of Music for the People, dominated byAlan Bush,led to his withdrawal and prompted his move to Canada just before the war.[12]
Canada
editGoss had first performed in Canada in 1929 at the Vancouver Sea Festival, as part of his North American tour.Healey Willandedicated four songs to him that year. He made frequent high-profile appearances there in the 1930s, including with theToronto Symphony Orchestraand the Winnipeg Male Voice Choir. Goss was touring in Canada when war was declared, and took up residence in Vancouver.[13]He gave recitals, adjudicated at festivals and taught privately. He formed the John Goss Studio Singers in Vancouver. His political activities continued through his involvement with the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers, as a member of theLabour-Progressive Party(the legal front of the Communist Party in Canada) and (from 1944) as a co-founder and president of the Labor Arts Guild.[14]
Return to the UK
editWhile attending a peace conference in New York in 1949, Goss was evicted from America due to his Communist sympathies and sent back to Canada. The negative publicity proved to be a barrier to future employment there, so he returned to England in 1950 to live inEdgbaston,Birmingham. After more than a decade away he was largely forgotten in the UK. He performed at theFestival of Britainin 1951. One of his last recitals took place in Birmingham on 14 October 1952, with accompanistPhilip Cranmer,performing songs by van Dieren, Dowland, Purcell, Schumann and Beethoven.[15]
He died in Birmingham only three years after his return, aged 58.[14][3]A memorial concert organised by the Workers Musical Association took place at the French Institute in London on 13 February 1955.[16]Ten years after his death his friend, the composerElizabeth Postonsaid in a 1964 BBC broadcast:[17]
John's voice was not a great one: it was a light baritone with a high range, extraordinary flexibility and beauty of tone. I've heard greater singers: I've never been more moved by any. It was he, more than any other singer, who did most for English song in the years following the First World War.
Publications
editGoss' publications includeThe Daily Express Community Songbook(1927),[18]The Weekend Book(with Vera Mendel andFrancis Meynell),An Anthology of Song(1929) andBallads of Britain(1937). A satirical novel,Cockroaches and Diamonds,was written while he was in Japan and published in 1937.[19]Goss was about halfway through writing an autobiography at the time of his death.[20]
InTony Britten's filmSome Little Joy(2005) on the life of Peter Warlock, John Goss is played by the baritone Giles Davies.[21]
References
edit- ^Slonimsky, Nicolas.Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians,7th. ed. (1984), p. 868
- ^ab'Sociable Songs',The Daily Telegraph,3 April 1925, p.13
- ^abcdGiles Davies. Notes toGossiana: A 1920s Anthology of Song,Divine Art CD DDA25048 (2007)
- ^abJohn Goss obituary,The Musical Times,Vol. 94, No. 1322 (April 1953), p. 185
- ^Obituary,The Times,14 February 1953
- ^Lloyd, Stephen, Sparkes, Diana, Sparkes, Brian (editors):Music in Their Time: The Memoirs and Letters of Dora and Hubert FossArchived14 October 2019 at theWayback Machine(2019), pp. 207-8
- ^Myfanwy Thomas,One of These Fine Days(1982), p. 141
- ^Smith, Barry.Peter Warlock: The Life of Philip Heseltine(1994), p. 207
- ^Peter Warlock: Collected 78rpm recordings,Divine Art CD DDH 27811 (2009)
- ^Curtis, Liane (May 1996)."A Case of Identity"(PDF).Musical Times.137(1839): 15–21.doi:10.2307/1003935.JSTOR1003935.
- ^Mitchell, Alistair.A Chronicle of First Broadcast Performances of Musical Works(2019)
- ^Maria Kiladi.The London Labour Choral Union, 1924-1940:A Musical Institution of the Left,Royal Holloway, University of London thesis (2016), pp. 161-183
- ^Hayes, Florence. 'John Goss', inThe Canadian Encyclopedia(2007)
- ^ab'John Goss: Baritone, Art Advocate, Politician and Marxist', inVancouver As It Was,15 November 2016
- ^'Music in the Provinces',The Musical Times,Vol. 93, No. 1318 (December 1952), p. 562
- ^'A Memorial Concert',The Times,14 February 1955, p.3
- ^John Alabaster.Elizabeth Poston: Catalogue of Works with Biographical Context(2018), p.80
- ^UR Research catalogue, University of Rochester
- ^Times Literary Supplement,30 October 1937, p. 13
- ^Ernest Bradbury. 'Mr John Goss', inThe Times,20 February 1953, p. 8
- ^Peter Warlock: Some Little Joy,IMDb entry
External links
edit- Gossiana – A Tribute to John Goss. Divine Arts Records
- Sheep Shearing(Dorset folk song, arranged by E. J. Moeran), sung by John Goss with the Cathedral Male Voice Quartet