Elizabeth Goble

Elizabeth "Betty" Goble, née Brown (1907 — 23 December 1981) was a British harpsichordist, viol player, and calligrapher, wife of harpsichord maker Robert Goble (1903—1991) and mother of British-American scientist, writer, and illustrator Paul Goble (1933—2017). She grew up in Liverpool, and Elizabeth's father was the headmaster of the Liverpool Collegiate School. In 1928, Brown traveled to Haslemere in West Surrey to study viola da gamba and chamber performance with renowned Arnold Dolmetsch (1858—1940). Primarily known as the instrument builder, Dolmetsch also had music students and organized various activities in town, with the support and patronage of Marco Pallis (1895—1989), including the Haslemere Festival established in 1925 and Dolmetsch Foundation that sponsored Arnold's apprentices and early music scholars; Elizabeth was one of the first grant recipients. She met Robert Goble, one of the Dolmetsch apprentices, and subsequently started a relationship and married in 1930. Elizabeth Goble was primarily known as a harpsichordist, and as Robert Donington wrote in her obituary published in the Early Music journal, "She inherited from Dolmetsch a touch of rare and sonorous quality," praising her memorable interpretations of Bach, Couperin, and English virginalists that Goble made for Decca. As a viola da gamba player, she performed and recorded with the English Consort Of Viols ensemble, organized in 1935 by Marco Pallis. She actively supported and inspired Robert Goble's activities and inscribed some of his spinets and harpsichords.