GOSSEC, Osekl, FRANgOIS-JOSEPH ( 1733 1829). A French composer, born at Vergnies in Hainaut. lie was a choir boy in the Antwerp Cathedral, and then went to Paris, where, through the influence of Rameau, he was em ployed by a rich amateur, La Popeliniere, to direct his private orchestra. Gossec has been called 'the father of the symphony in France.' He found all instrumental music neglected, and made it his ambition to revivify it. His first symphonies were published in 1754, five years before Haydn wrote his. While orchestra conduc tor to the Prince of Conti, he wrote several operas. To him belongs the honor of having started the Ecole Royale de Chant (1734), which was the prototype of the Conservatory, and when that institution itself was founded (1795), he was one of the three inspectors, the others being Maul and Cherubini. During the Revolution he was the conductor of the band of the Garde Nationale, and composed a good deal of national music for fetes. A critic sums up
Gossec as "not one of those geniuses who defy time," and he had the misfortune to see his ideas improved upon by some of his contempo raries; but his influence on the development of instrumental music in France can hardly be over estimated. His works include: Le faux lord (1764) ; Les pecheurs (1766) ; Alexis et Daphne (1775); Philemon et Baucis (1775); La fete du village (1778) ; Thesee (1782) ; Rosine (1786) ; Chant du 14-Juillet. Hymne a l'humanite; Hymne a l'Etre supreme; Chceurs et chants pour l'apo theose de Voltaire et de Rousseau; some oratorios and a good deal of instrumental music. Consult Gregoir, Notice biographique sur F. J. Gosse dit Gossec (1878).