Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/86

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GOSSEC. GOSSEC, g&'sfik', Fban^'ois-Josepii (1733- 1829). A Frenuli composer, born at Vergnies in Haiiiaut. Hu was a choir boy iu the Antwerp Cathedral, and then went to Paris, where, through the influence of Eameau, he was em- ployed by a rich amateur. La Popelinifere, to direct his private orchestra. Gossec has been called 'the father of the sympliony in France.' He found all instrumental music neglected, and made it his ambition to revivify it. His first symphonies were published in 1754, five years before Haydn wrote his. While orchestra conduc- tor to the Prince of Conti, he wrote several operas. To him belongs the honor of having started the Ecole Royale de Chant (1734), which was the prototype of the Conservatory, and when that institution itself was founded (179.5), he was one of the three inspectors, the others being JIcluil and Cherubini. During the Revolution lie was the conductor of the band of the Garde Nationale, and composed a good deal of national music for fetes. A critic sums up Gossec as "not one of those geniuses who defy time," and he had the misfortune to see his . ideas improved upon by some of his contempo- raries; but his inlhience on the development of instrumental music in France can hardly be over- estimated. His works include: he faux lord (1704) ; Les pecheurs (1766) ; Alexis et Daphne (1775) : Pliilrnioii et Baucis (1775) : La fete du village (1778); Thesee (1782); liosine (1786); Chant du Ui-Jnillet. Hi/mne al'htimaniti; B;/mne a I'Etrc supreme; Chanrs et chants pour I'apo- iheose de Voltaire et de Rousseau; some oratorios and a good deal of instrumental music. Consult Gregoir, Notice biographique sur F. J. (fosse dit Gossec (1878). GOSSELIN, gd'slfiN'. Charles (1834-92). A French landscape painter, born in Paris. He studied with Busson and Gleyre, and in 1882 was appointed custodian of the Museum at Versailles. His principal paintings, embracing largely wood- land scenes, include: "Yoods in Autumn" (1863) ; "Environs of Bougival" (1866) ; "Twi- light in the Woods" (1868); "December Land- scape" (1879) ; "Between Dieppe and Tourville" (1884). In all these pictures he reveals his power to deal with large masses effectively. GOSSEIilN, Pascal FRAKrois Joseph (1751- 1830). A French archncologist, born at Lille, France. After acting a.s a Deputy to the National Assembly (1789). he became a member of the central administration of commerce (1701). and ■was employpfl in making maps for the War De- partment ( 1794) . He was employed by Napoleon to assist in the translation of Strabo; was one of the chief editors of the Journal des Savants after 1816, and published, among other works, Geographic des Grecs analysce (1790), and Re- clierehes sur la geographic systematique et posi- tive des anciens (1798-1813). GOSSLER, gOs'ler, Gustav von (1838-1902). A Prussian statesman, born at Naumburg. He studiedat Berlin. Heidelberg,and Konigsberg, and, after having held a nvmiber of Government posts, was an assistant in the Jlinistry of the Interior from 1874 to 1S7S. and in 1S79 was appointed Under-Secretary of State in the Jlinistry of Eccle- siastical Affairs and Public Instruction. In 1881 he succeeded Puttkamcr in the ^Ministry. The troubles attending the Kulturkampf were still active, and these he endeavored to meet bv a 64 GOSZCZYNSKI. practical scheme of informal concession to the Roman Church. Thus, he did away with several provisions of the so-called "May Laws,' such, for example, as the examination of the clergy and appointment of priests by the State. Other measures of conciliation were alsb devised by him, sometimes not without the opposition of the Prussian Govcnmient. He very vigorousl3' op- posed the Polish nationalistic movement in Po- sen, and in 1887 struck a decisive blow by abolishing instruction in the Polish language in the public schools. In 1890 he formulated a school law which gave offense to the Poles, and of whose immediate passage there was little hope, since the Government at that time required Polish assistance in the Reichstag in support of its commercial projects. He therefore resigned in 1891, and soon afterwards was appointed Lord Lieutenant of West 'Prussia. Consult his Atispraelicn und Reden (Berlin, 1890). GOSSNER, gos'ner, Johannes Evangelista (1773-1858). Founder of the Gossner Foreign Missionary Society. He was born at Hansen, near Augsburg, December 14, 1773, educated at Dillingen and Ingolstadt, and from 1796 to 1826 served in the ministry of the Roman Catholic Church. During 1820-24 he was preacher in Saint Petersburg. As early as 1802 he was sus- pected of leanings toward Protestantism, and in 1820 he openlv joined the Evangelical Church. From 1829 till 1846 he preached in Berlin, and labored zealously for missions, education, and philanthropic undertakings. He became a di- rector of the Berlin Missionary Society when it was founded in 1831. but left it in 18.30 because he wished missionaries to have greater liberty of action. Assisted by voluntai-y contribution, he continued to send forth missionaries, and in 1842 his missionaiy society was formally organized. It still exists, and labors chiefly in the East Indies. Gossner died March 30. 1858. Among other works he published : Gcist des Lehens und der Lehre Jesu (1823) ; Die Heiligen Hchriften des Neueti Testaments mit Erkliirungen und Betrachtungen (new ed. 1888-94). Consult his life l)y Dalton (Berlin, 1898). GOS'SON, Stephen (1555-1624). An English author, bnrn in Kent. Entering Corpus Christi College. Oxford, he was graduated B.A. in 1576, and wrote several plays, of which none are ex- tant. Later he attacked the stage violently, and took orders. In his School of Abuse (1579; reprinted by E. A. Arber. 1868), he began a lively controversy on the stage, which led to many pamphlets, and ultimately to Sidney's Apoiogi/ for Poetry (1595). GOSSYPatrM. See Cotton. GOSZCZYNSKI, gosh-chun'ske, Sewertn (1803-76). A Polish poet, born in the Govern- ment of Kiev, Russia. He was educated at War- saw, and was one of the foremost leaders of the Revolution of 1830. He was one of the band of fugitives who subsequently assembled in Paris, and they exercised a veiy powerful influence upon him. His works are lyrical in character, and many of them are devoted to a description of life in the Carpathians and in the I^kraine. Most of them are characterized by a vein of sadness due, probably, to the political conditions which have weighed so heavily upon the patriotic poets and authors of Poland. His principal poetic produc- tions include: Zameh Kaniowski (translated into