Foreword

 

"George Onslow is not one of these creators who completely change music History : his ideal remained Beethoven during his young and mature days ; he did not appreciated his surprising sound explorations of the "third way ". Deep down, the composer from Auvergne kept the nostalgia of the brief classical balance, this ideal coincidence between the deep substance and its adequate instrumental expression.
Nevertheless, in almost all of his work, his major compositions, sonatas, trios, quartets and quintets, he is a poet of authentically romantic sounds, the only great French romantic even to have become so lastingly famous in a genre also cultivated in Germany and in Austria by some of the most prestigious geniuses."

Carl de Nys

Three portraits of George Onslow

The purpose of this site - the first ever devoted to George Onslow - is to make this composer known and as well as his work by establishing a data base available to Internet users : several specialists were contacted to put together these web-pages which include :

1. Written and iconographic documents ;
2. Exclusive interviews with musicians, musicologists, publishers ;
3. Information about the current events in relation with Onslow (concerts, festivals, exhibitions, publications, conferences, etc.).

The pages on this site will be regularly updated to enrich their contents, to let other personalities working for the knowledge and the recognition of Onslow express themselves, and to closely keep up with these current events which remain still very discret, apart from some rare and isolated initiatives, and to which we wish to contribute as much as possible.

If we wished to start this page by a quotation by Carl de Nys, it is to honour this passionate and erudite musicologist who was behind George Onslow's rediscovery in 1966. From 1972 to 1992, he produced ten records which allowed for the very first time to listen to the Onslow's music which was often performed on his own initiative at the Cultural Center of Valprivas ; he wrote several articles et liner notes, delivered many lectures to share the results of his researches made at the Aulteribe castle's archives, and his pionneer work found a wider audience when he produced a series of five two hours radio broadcasts in 1975. It is he, once more, who was naturally sollicitated to write the foreword for the book which Gérard Faivre devoted to George Onslow in 1994 (cf. Bibliography). This site is thus dedicated to his memory and a page is devoted to him.

At last, we wish to thank all the persons who kindly contributed to make this site a reliable and interesting source of documentation about George Onslow : the artists, musicologists, publishers, translators, but also the persons who opened to us their private collections in order to illustrate this site with exclusive and never before shown iconography.

 

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