John Goss (composer)
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Sir John Goss |
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| Born | 27 December 1800 |
| Died | 10 May 1880 (aged 79) Brixton |
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Sir John Goss (27 December 1800 – 10 May 1880) was an English organist, composer and teacher.
Born to a musical family, Goss was a boy chorister of the Chapel Royal, London, and later a pupil of Thomas Attwood, organist of St Paul's Cathedral. After a brief period as a chorus member in an opera company he was appointed organist of a chapel in south London, later moving to more prestigious organ posts at St Luke's Church, Chelsea and finally St Paul's Cathedral, where he struggled to improve musical standards.
As a composer, Goss wrote little for the orchestra, but was known for his vocal music, both religious and secular. Among his best-known compositions are his hymn tunes "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" and "See, Amid the Winter's Snow". The music critic of The Times described him as the last of the line of English composers who confined themselves almost entirely to ecclesiastical music.
From 1827 to 1874, Goss was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, teaching harmony. He also taught at St Paul's. Among his pupils at the academy were Arthur Sullivan, Frederic Cowen and Frederick Bridge. His best-known pupil at St Paul's was John Stainer, who succeeded him as organist there.
Goss came from a musical background. His father, Joseph Goss, was organist of Fareham Parish Church in Hampshire, and earlier members of the family had been celebrated singers. At the age of eight the boy was sent to a school at Ringwood. Three years later he went to London under the care of his uncle, John Jeremiah Goss, an alto singer who sang in the choirs of the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. The young Goss became one of the Children of the Chapel Royal. The master of the choir at that time was John Stafford Smith, a musician known for composing the song To Anacreon in Heaven, later used as the tune of the American national anthem. As an educator, Smith combined a harsh discipline with a narrow musical curriculum. He confiscated Goss's score of Handel's organ concertos on the grounds that choristers of the Chapel Royal were there to learn to sing and not to play. Goss later recalled,
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