WILLIAM

See also:

• VINCENT (or VINCENTIUS), ST
• VINCENT, GEORGE (1796-1831?)
• VINCENT, MARY ANN (1818-1887)

VINCENT

See also:

• WALLACE, ALFRED RUSSEL (1823— )
• WALLACE, LEWIS [LEW] (1827—1905)
• WALLACE, SIR RICHARD
• WALLACE, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1270-1305)
• WALLACE, WILLIAM (1768-1843)
• WALLACE, WILLIAM (1844-1897)
• WILLIAM VINCENT WALLACE (1814-1865)

WALLACE (1814-1865)  , British composer, was born at Waterford, Ireland, his father, of Scottish family, being a regimental bandmaster . Vincent Wallace learnt as a boy to play several instruments, and became a leading violinist in Dublin . But in 1835 he married and went off to Australia, sheep farming . A concert in Sydney revived his musical passion; and having separated from his wife, he began a roving career, which had many romantic episodes, in Australia, the South Seas, India and South America . He returned to London in 1845 and made various appearances as a pianist; and in November of that year his opera Maritana was per-formed at 'Drury Lane with great success . This was followed by Matilda of Hungary (1847), Lurline (186o), The Amber Witch (1861), Love's Triumph (1862) and The Desert Flower (1863) . He also published a number of compositions for the piano, &c . Vincent Wallace was a cultivated man and an accomplished musician, whose Maritana still holds he stage, and whose work as an English operatic composer, at a period by no means encouraging to English music, has a distinct historical va'ue . Like Balfe, he was born an Irishman, and his reputation as one of the few composers known beyond the British Isl at that time is naturally coupled with Balfe's . But he was a finer artist and a more original musician . In later years he became almost blind; and he died in poor circumstances on the 12th of October 1865, leaving a widow and two children .