THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Eugène Goossens

Eugène Goossens cond., 1876, 1878)

[Born Bruges, Belgium 25 Feb 1845, died Liverpool 30 Dec 1906]

Eugène Goossens began his musical studies at age six at the Church of Notre Dame, Bruges, and at nine entered the Bruges Conservatoire. At fourteen he entered the Brussels Conservatoire, where he studied composition and won several prizes of distinction. After conducting several opera companies in Belgium, France, and Italy, he went to England in 1873. One of his early assignments there was with Selina Dolaro's company, conducting The Duke's Daughter at the Royalty, Globe, and Charing Cross Theatres under the joint management of Richard D'Oyly Carte and George Dolby, January-March 1876. Goossens later had the opportunity to conduct Carte's London Comedy-Opera Company toward the end of the run of The Sorcerer (May 1878), and in a "special operatic performance" of H.M.S. Pinafore, given at the Crystal Palace on the afternoon of July 6, 1878.

In 1882 he joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company, that year conducting the first English performance of Tannhäuser in Liverpool. He succeeded to principal conductor of the Company in 1889. In November 1892 Goossens conducted the Rosa Company in a command performance of The Daughter of the Regiment for Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle. Shortly thereafter, he settled in Liverpool, where he formed the "Goossens Male-voice Choir," taught singing, and served as organist and choirmaster at St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church.

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