François-Joseph Gossec

François-Joseph Gossec (17 January 1734 – 16 February 1829) was a French composer of operas, string quartets, symphonies, and choral works.The son of a small farmer, Gossec was born at the village of Vergnies, then a French exclave in the Austrian Netherlands, now an ancienne commune in the municipality of Froidchapelle, Belgium. 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 composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. He followed Rameau as the conductor of a private orchestra kept by the fermier général Le Riche de La Poupelinière, a wealthy amateur and patron of music. Gradually he became determined to do something to revive the study of instrumental music in France.

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Gossec (1734-1829) was a French symphonist and composer of operas. His music was popular and well-respected. Mozart considered him a great friend and particularly lauded his requiem, which was composed in 1760. This “Messe des morts” also foreshadowed certain aspects of the late 19th century. Gossec used the wind instruments as a distant orchestra, achieving spatial sound effects which Berlioz was able to build on in his Requiem some 80 years later.

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