Description

The music recorded on this CD ranges from Gossec’s first years in Paris to his fertile revolutionary period. François-Joseph Gossec was hired as a violinist in La Pouplinière’s excellent orchestra, which Rameau directed. Later, after Mondonville and then Johann Stamitz, Gossec himself became its director. Increasingly, Gossec’s reputation grew, he became well known as a first-rate composer. He was also director of Le Concert des Amateurs, starting in 1769; and finally, in 1773, as leader of the prestigious Concert Spirituel series. Gossec served as Mozart’s mentor during the prodigy’s visits to France, and became active in training the next generation of musicians. In 1784 he became director of the École Royale de Chant and helped create the Conservatoire, an institution with which he remained associated until 1815, the year of the second Restoration and of his 81st birthday, when he was forced to retire.