William Vincent Wallace

(William) Vincent Wallace (11 March 1812 – 12 October 1865) was an Irish composer and musician. He is mainly known as an opera composer, with key works such as Maritana (1845) and Lurline (1847/60), but he also wrote some virtuoso piano music that was much in vogue in the 19th century.

Wallace was born at Colbeck Street, Waterford, Ireland. Both of his parents were Irish; his father, Spencer Wallace of County Mayo, one of four children, who was born in Killala, County Mayo in 1789, became a regimental bandmaster with the North Mayo Militia based in Ballina. William was born while the band was stationed for one year in Waterford. The family returned to Ballina some four years later, in 1816, and William spent his formative years there, taking an active part in his father's band and already composing pieces by the age of nine for the band recitals.

The band, having a reputation for high standards, apart from regimental duties would have featured at social events in big houses in the area. Under the tuition of his father and uncle, he wrote pieces for the bands and orchestras of his native area. Wallace became accomplished in playing various band instruments before the family left the Army in 1826 (their regiment then being the 29th Foot), moving from Waterford to Dublin, and becoming active in music in the capital. Wallace learned to play several instruments as a boy, including the violin, clarinet, organ, and piano. In 1830, at the age of 18, he became organist of the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Thurles, County Tipperary, and taught music at the Ursuline Convent there. He fell in love with a pupil, Isabella Kelly, whose father consented to their marriage in 1832 on condition that Wallace become a Roman Catholic and take the name of Vincent. The couple soon moved to Dublin, where Wallace was employed as a violinist at the Theatre Royal.

Restless and adventurous as a young man, Wallace emigrated to Australia in 1835, together with his wife and infant son, his sister Elizabeth, a soprano, and his brother Wellington, a flautist. The family first went to Hobart, Tasmania, and then to Sydney, where in 1836 Wallace opened the first Australian music academy and became known as the "Australian Paganini". His sister Elizabeth married a well-known Australian singer and ex-convict, John Bushelle, with whom she gave many recitals. Wallace also imported pianos and gave many recitals in and around Sydney under the patronage of the Governor, General Sir Richard Bourke.

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