Composed Between Battles

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 536, 30 September 1949, Page 24

Composed Between Battles

COMPOSITION for brass band, written by J. Dean Goffin, son of Brigadier H. C. Goffin of the Salvation Army, was recently performed by England’s leading bands at the famous Belle Vue Contest. Manchester. At the end

of the performance J. Henry Iles, O.B.E., for half a century a leading figure in the English band world, said, "Never has better music been played at this contest." This was a notable triumph for young Mr. Goffin, who composed the work at the age of 25, while he was serving in the Middle East with the| 2nd N.Z.E.F: Rhapsody in Brass, as the composition is titled, was composed literally between battles. The first half was written in Syria early in 1942, but the completion of the work was interrupted by the Divi‘sion’s move to the Western Desert to counter Rommel’s. drive into Egypt. From Alamein, the 4th Brigade, for which Goffin was bandmaster, was withdrawn to Maadi, and the final Allegro of the work was written there in one week-end. The parts were copied out and the completa work rehearsed and performed a week later at the "Music for All" club in Cairo, by the 4th Brigade Band. The composer, who is at present a branch manager of a well-known musical firm, has had several other brass band compositions accepted for publication.