Georges Onslow: Symphony No.1 in A Major, Op.41, NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannes Goritzki

Georges Onslow - Symphony No. 1 in A Major, Op. 41, NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannes Goritzki (conductor) I. Introduzione. Largo - Allegro spiritoso – 00:00 II. Adagio espressivo – 12:32 III. Minuetto. Vivace – 20:37 IV. Finale. Vivace – 26:21 André George(s) Louis Onslow (27 July 1784 – 3 October 1853) was a French composer of English descent. His wealth, position and personal tastes allowed him to pursue a path unfamiliar to most of his French contemporaries, more similar to that of his contemporary German romantic composers. Georges Onslow was born in Clermont-Ferrand, the son of an English father, Edward Onslow, and a French mother. His paternal grandfather was George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow. Onslow did not mean to become an artist, even less a composer: studying the piano was only part of his education; as well as mathematics, history, fencing, horse riding, drawing (two of his brothers devoted themselves to painting), etc. Onslow never gave a recital as a pianist: he only performed in the provincial town of Clermont to demonstrate he could improvise, and he also studied the cello as an amateur in order to be part of a quartet of friends with whom he played the masters' repertoire (Mozart, Haydn, and young Beethoven). In Onslow's own brief autobiography (written in the third person) he comments that in his childhood, "music studies formed but a secondary part of his education" but names Jan Ladislav Dussek and Johann Baptist Cramer amongst his piano teachers. It has been suggested that he received this tuition in London under the aegis of his grandfather. However, other research indicates he may not have studied with Dussek until 1797–1798 in Hamburg. Later he decided to complete his theoretical knowledge by studying with Anton Reicha, who was his only master in composition. His influence would be decisive esthetically as well as stylistically. Onslow launched into a brilliant career that turned him into a leading composer of musical life in the first half of nineteenth century. His music was played by the greatest musicians of his time and his name was next to Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, of whom people said he was the only worthy successor. Onslow mainly becomes a national glory in Germany where he is much admired and praised. He is very famous among the musicians and the audience. Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann witnessed this live. His contemporaries admired him and he was widely published, but he was also acknowledged by the institutions: as a member of most European societies (London in 1829 along with Mendelssohn, Rotterdam in 1834, Vienna in 1836, Rome in 1839, Florence in 1839, Cologne in 1847, Strasbourg in 1849, and Stockholm in 1851), he was elected in 1842 at the Fine Arts Academy, in particular before Hector Berlioz. Composing 36 quartets and 34 quintets, Onslow left us exceptional works which supplied main European concert societies for more than fifty years. In his orchestral music (4 symphonies), Onslow announced romanticism by the richness of his harmony, the preponderance of chromaticisms, his storm-like inspiration and the fervour of his lyrical themes. Esteemed by many of the critics of his time, his reputation declined swiftly after his death and has only been revived in recent years.