Composers and Authors

John Goss [1891–1953]

John Goss, a lyric baritone, was an early recording artist for HMV, performing with his own Cathedral Male Voice Quartet in ballads, folksongs and sea shanties. As a music scholar he was a close friend and collaborator with composers of his era, such as Peter Warlock, Benjamin Britten, E. J. Moeran, Bernard van Dieren, Rebecca Clarke and Frederick Delius. Goss was also notable as an anthologist, compiling at least three volumes of both traditional and classical songs. These include:

• The Week-End Book (Nonesuch Press, London, 1924): This is a miscellany of poems, songs, info on food & drink and first aid etc. John Goss was the music editor, responsible for the 60 pages of songs therein (Peter Warlock dipped into it as a source for his One more river and probably The Toper’s Song).
• Daily Express Community Song Book (Daily Express, London, 1927): Running to over 200 pages, the songs (mainly traditional) were collected and edited by Goss (the arrangements of them being left to others).
• An Anthology of Song (Oxford University Press, London, 1929): Running to 169 pages, and again collected and edited by Goss, the anthology is almost entirely of songs where the composer is known and specified.

Born in Birmingham to a working class family in 1891, Goss initially laboured in a variety of factory jobs until his singing voice earned him a scholarship to Ruskin College, Oxford, after which he spent some years studying music in Germany. Later, Goss devoted much effort to the revival of folksongs, which he performed to working class people in factories and union halls.

In around 1940 Goss arrived in Canada and gave concerts in Vancouver. Later, he started a music summer school at Lyons on Galiano Island in 1947, where there was also a thriving artistic community at Arbutus Point Resort at the time.

Goss had pacifist leanings and addressed a peace conference in New York in 1949 alongside other top-rank musical figures such as Britten, Copland, Shostakovich and Paul Robeson. However, at the end of the event he was approached by the police. Suspected of being a communist, he was given a choice of leaving the country immediately or being deported. On his return to Canada, his contract in Vancouver was terminated and he was required to close his summer school. He returned to Birmingham, where he died in 1953.

Goss’s personal dossier of songs in manuscript form was discovered in 2008, including many transcriptions of songs in his own hand.

Note that John Goss should not be confused with his senior namesake, the composer Sir John Goss (1800–1880).

Thanks to John Mitchell and Giles Davies for assistance with checking the accuracy of the information presented on this page, and particularly for details of the three Goss anthologies listed here.

Arranger…

		Attribution	Work	Grade	Vocal range	Duration	Published	Price
		Traditional French arr. John Goss	L’amour de moi A fifteenth-century French chanson arranged for medium voice and piano	5	D♭ to E♭'	2½ mins	27th September 2021	£4.95
		Forces: Medium voice, Piano