[Op. 46, nos. 2 and 3]. Trois Quatuors pour deux Violons, Alto & Basse composés et dédiés à Monsieur Habeneck ainé... 7me Liv. de Quatuors. Oeuvre 46. No. [2...III]. Pr. 1 1/2 Rthlr. [Parts]

Leipzig: Fr. Kistner [PN 1024...1025], 1841. Folio. Violino 1o of both quartets disbound; all other parts sewn.

No. 2: Violino 1o: [1] (title), 2-11, [i] (blank) pp.; Violino 2o: 7, [i] (blank) pp.; Alto: 7, [i] (blank) pp.; Violoncello: 7, [i] (blank) pp. Title lithographed; music engraved. Full score and piano duet version advertised to foot of title with prices in Neugroschen currency. No. 3: Violino 1o: [1] (title), 2-11, [i] (blank) pp.; Violino 2o: 7, [i] (blank) pp.; Alto: 7, [i] (blank) pp.; Violoncello: 7, [i] (blank) pp. Title lithographed; music engraved. Full score and piano duet version advertised to foot of title with prices in (truncated) Neugroschen currency.

Annotations in pencil to first page of all parts of no. 2 except Violino 1o, in ink to first page of all parts of no. 3.

Spines reinforced. Slightly foxed; all parts of no. 2 browned and brittle; leaves of Violino 1o mostly detached; Violin part of no. 3 frayed and chipped at inner margin and edges. An early edition, later issue, first published within months of the first. The paper and printing quality suggests that the issue of no. 2 is significantly later than that of no. 3. WorldCat (5 copies in the U.S., at the New York Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the University of Arizona, Indiana University, and the University of North Texas). The University of North Carolina, Greensboro (1 copy of no. 2 only).

"[A] French composer of English descent... Onslow’s string quartets and quintets are the pinnacle of his output. His youthful quartets (opp.4, 8, 9, and 10) are notable for great flexibility of writing, exceptional rhythmic and melodic charm, and great vitality... In 1832 he returned to the form with new and sudden vigour probably as a result of his discovery of Beethoven’s late quartets. Both shocked and fascinated by these, he composed the 12 most important of all his quartets (opp.46 to 56) over a period of two years. Of greater density, and with even greater interplay between the voices, these works show great emotional intensity, opening up the way to new harmonic and rhythmic daring, and contain movements of striking beauty. Onslow’s work was particularly successful in Germany and Austria throughout the first half of the 19th century, as the many editions of his works show." Viviane Niaux in Grove Music Online. (Inventory #: 25813)