William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace was a famous Irish musician and composer who was born in Waterford in 1812.
Photo courtesy of Brady-Handy Collection, Library of CongressWilliam Vincent Wallace
Photo courtesy of Brady-Handy Collection, Library of Congress
Photo courtesy of Brady-Handy Collection, Library of Congress
William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace was a famous Irish musician and composer who was born in Waterford in 1812.
Photo courtesy of Brady-Handy Collection, Library of CongressWilliam Vincent Wallace was an Irish musician and composer, born in Waterford in 1812. From a very early age, he was given lessons on the piano and clarinet and later on the violin and organ. By 18, he was the organist at Thurles Cathedral in County Tipperary.
In 1835, Wallace's family along with his brother and sister moved to Sydney, Australia and started giving family concerts. To make ends meet, he also imported pianos and opened Australia's first music school.
By 1845, his work as a composer was very popular and Maritana was performed in Earls Court, London in November that year. He carried on travelling and writing music around the world even though he put himself in a lot of danger. He claims that he survived a shipboard explosion on the way to North America although nobody is sure to this day whether that's true or not.
He became quite ill when he returned to London in the late 1840s and he died in France in 1865.