This edition of Onslow's fifteenth String Quintet has the advantage of being either a two Viola or a two Cello quintet as it is published with parts for two cellists or two violists. It is a major work with good parts for all players with the 1st Violin part having a particularly large numbers of fast semi quavers (sixteenths) in the outer movements.It is known as 'The Bullet' due to the circumstances of its composition: Onslow was boar hunting in the Auvergne when a theme occurred to him. He dismounted and sat on a nearby fallen tree trunk and wrote it down. A boar then burst from the bushes and his companions fired missing the boar and hitting Onslow.The quintet was completed on his recovery and graphically illustrates his sufferings. George Onslow an Anglo-French composer was born in Clermont-Ferrand in July 1784 and died there in October 1853.

This String Quintet (with two Violas or three Violins) was composed in 1799. It is tuneful and straightforward and suitable for players who are not yet at the standard required to play the Mozart Dvorak or Brahms quintets with two Violas. This edition has the advantage of having a third Violin part included if two Viola players are not available. Johann Michael Haydn was the younger brother of his much more famous older brother Franz Joseph commonly regarded as the 'father' of the classical String Quartet format.