Saturday 18 December 2004

Musical Family

The last of the Goossens family has died at the age of 105: Sidonie Goossens was a harpist of world renown for more than half a century.

This musical family, which came to England from Belgium in the nineteenth century, included three Eugenes—grandfather, father and brother to Sidonie. Another brother, Leon, was a famous oboist; here he is playing the Tarantella from Scarlatti’s Concerto No 1.
It is absolutely not true that he gave rise to the phrase ….wouldn’t say oboe to a Goossens.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My dear George
How nice to hear from you again, and how good of you to take the trouble to fill in the lacunae in my knowledge of The Goossens Story (soon to be a major new series featuring Bill Cosby as Eugene fils)! I had no idea how their talents impacted on the history of the twentieth century; three Eugeniuses in one family! Thank you so much.
Wishing you a Gladsome Yuletide.