George Onslow (1784—1853), whose father was an Englishman, was born in France where he spent most of his life. As a child in London he showed little musical talent, but on returning to France he began to play the cello in an amateur chamber group which led to writing more than sixty quartets and quintets for strings. He studied composition in Vienna, and later in Paris with Anton Reicha. Reicha was also the teacher of Berlioz and of Gustav Vogt in whose visitors book this little Andantino was written.