Family motto : Festina Lente
(on - slow)

27 July 1784 : Birth of George Onslow in Clermont-Ferrand. He is the first son of Edward Onslow (1758-1829) and Marie-Rosalie de Bourdeilles (1761-1842 who will subsequently then have three more sons : Maurice, Arthur and Auguste.

1789: Edward Onslow buys the country seat of Chalendrat and settles there with his family.

Chalendrat

1790-1792 (?): George may have been sent to stay with his English relatives in order to study the piano with Hullmandel. For more details about his youth, his music studies and his journeys, see this study on line.

1798-1799: Onslow studies the piano in Hamburg with Johann-Ladislav Dussek.

J.L.Dussek

1801 : The 17-year-old Onslow hears Méhul's opera Stratonice. This awakens in him his vocation as a composer.

1803-1805 (?): Studies the piano in England with Johann Baptist Cramer.

J.-B. Cramer

1806 : First compositions : op. 1 to 4.

1807 : Studies composition with Anton Reicha.

1808 : In July, George marries Charlotte-Françoise-Delphine de Fontanges (1790-1879).

1818 : Onslow is a newly appointed member of the Société libre d’encouragement des belles-lettres, sciences et art de Clermont-t-Ferrand. This Society was to merge in 1829 with two other learned Societies in the city in order to form the current Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Clermont-Ferrand.

1820 : Publication of the three sonatas for cello and piano op. 16.

10 August 1824 : First performance of the Alcade de la Vega.

1 April 1825 : Onslow and Mendelssohn meet for the first time in Hummel’s home in Paris.

F. Mendelssohn

22 November 1827 : First performance of the Colporteur ou l’Enfant du Bûcheron.

1828 : Founding of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire.

1829 :
- Onslow is wounded in the head while out shooting.
- Composition of the Quintet op. 38 ("the bullet")
- Edward Onslow dies. Auguste and Maurice contest the will and sue their brother George.
- Onslow becomes an honorary member of the Philharmonic Society of London following Weber in 1826, Auber, Lesueur, Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer in 1829.

1829/1830 : First performance of Beethoven's last quartets in Paris.

(George Onslow by P.-L. Grévedon - 1830)

April 1831 : The Société des Concerts du Conservatoire perform their first French work : Onslow’s Symphonie n°1 op. 41.

1832-1834 : Onslow composes his quartets op. 46 to 56. These works reveal deep aesthetic and stylistic changes.

1836 : Onslow becomes an honorary member of the Vienna Phiharmonic Society.

22 April 1837 : Onslow is made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.

8 September 1837 : First performance of Guise ou les Etats de Blois.

1839 : After losing his case against his brothers, George has to part with Chalendrat and starts to build his country house "Bellerive".

Bellerive (north façade)

Bellerive (south façade)

1841 : Onslow resigns from the Académie de Clermont-Ferrand.

1842 : Onslow becomes a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in the Institut in Paris, in succession to Cherubini.

Top : Berlioz, Donizetti, Onslow, Auber, Mendelssohn, Berton
Bottom: Halévy, Meyerbeer, Spontini, Rossini

May 1846 : Onslow goes to England where he meets the violinist John Ella and Frederick & Lucy Anderson.

June 1846 : Onslow attends the Aix la Chapelle Festival, directed by Felix Mendelssohn. The overture of The Colporteur is performed.

May 1847 : with his fellow member of the Académie, Spontini, Onslow takes part in the Cologne Festival directed by Henri Dorn. His Symphony n°4, op. 71 “dedicated to the Société des Fêtes Musicales du Rhin is probably conducted by the composer himself.

1851 : Last work : the trio for piano, violinet cello in f minor op. 83.

3 October 1853 : Onslow dies at home: 2 rue Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand.