Across an exceptionally long life which allowed him to meet both Bach and Schubert, François-Joseph Gossec saw all the political regimes from Louis XV to the Restoration, by way of the French Revolution and the era of Napoleon. Gossec found fame under Napoleon the First, becoming the official and much-adored composer to the Emperor, who dubbed him a member of the Institute, and a knight of the Legion of Honour.
Born in Vergnies, a French village which is now found within the Kingdom of Belgium, Gossec studied at Liège and Brussels, before moving to Paris, where he would spend the rest of his life. He owed his career to Rameau, who introduced him to the Fermier-Général La Pouplinière whose artistic influence held the Parisian smart set in its grip. Named director of the Concert Spirituel, he would later become the director-general of the Opéra and collect a whole series of job titles. He adroitly slipped into the ranks of the Revolution and would compose several revolutionary hymns for it. Often seen as "the father of the French symphony", he founded the Conservatoire de Paris with Grétry (another Belgian), where he would soon find himself teaching the Italian Cherubini. But for a long time, foreigners would be banned from the institution.
The author of five symphonies, he remains in large part undiscovered. His six Symphonies, Op.4 were written in 1759, at exactly the same time as the first ones by Joseph Haydn. These works are surprising, to say the least. Profoundly original, they seduce the listener with the stunning variety in their writing. Gossec uses all the instrumentation of his time, with daring dissonances and a proliferation of dynamic contrasts and tempos. Sudden silences and pianissimo strings followed by horn-blasts all bear witness to the writing's virtuosity, and Simon Gaudenz skilfully brings out the remarkable clarity and flavour of the timbres. © François Hudry/Qobuz