Onslow received the education of the son of a member of Parliament even though his father had left England for France the year before George's birth. He studied piano with Hullmandel, Dussek and Cramer but was not terribly adept at the instrument. He became familiar with the cello, which he learned with amateur friends in Auvergne. This is when he also began to compose making an early attempt with three string quintets for which he stood the cost of publishing. Onslow was the second person to be elected to the Philharmonic Society of London in 1830 and in 1842 he was elected to the Institut de France after Cherubini's death. He displaced Auber and Berlioz. The compositions which Onslow scored included songs, string quartets and quintets, and three operas. The only composition that received any brief success was Onslow's overture Le colporteur. He composed a great deal of chamber music but was not necessarily well-received critically. Much of his works for string ensembles was published in 1830 and greatly appreciated by the public primarily due to the ease of the compositions. Characteristically Onslow's music was bland and unemotional but easily accessible to the amateur musician, especially the quintets which could be scored for a number of different instruments. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi