The Impact of the British Oboist Léon Goossens

In this study of Léon Goossens’ musical life, the author reassesses the current limited and fragmented perspectives of Léon’s contribution to British oboe playing through his interpretative and performance strategies, his orchestral and solo careers, the people who influenced and were influenced by him, his character as reported by those who studied and worked with him and, significantly, his pivotal role as a catalyst for new compositions that created a considerable library of British oboe music addressing a paucity in the repertoire. To place Léon’s impact in the context of the oboe’s history in Britain, factors concerning the influence of the French School on the British style of oboe playing are explored, as well as the entrenched polarised attitudes towards the instrument and a solo compositional vacuum prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that ultimately provided a platform for a restoration of the instrument’s status.