William Vincent Wallace: Music Album 1854 (limited
edition)
Úna Hunt and Peter Jaggard
Published by RTE, Dublin, Ireland
Bar code: 5 391507 330666; €55
What could be a nicer way of celebrating the bicentenary of an important yet
forgotten composer than to bring out a handsome facsimile of an Album of Music
(with CD) originally published in 1854 to commemorate this Irish composer’s
achievements.
William Vincent Wallace was a worldwide traveller. As an accomplished virtuoso
pianist and violinist he became an overnight celebrity in the cities he visited.
He first emigrated to Australia where he was celebrated as the Australian
Paganini and from there travelled to the Americas, with memorable performances
in Mexico City, New Orleans and New York. Wallace was particularly successful
in North America that he spent a considerable time and became an American
citizen even. It was later that he became known in London and Europe for his
operatic works.
The period of the compositions in this Album marks out his association with
the New York publisher, Wm Hall & Co. with whom he struck up a special
relationship in helping to promote their piano sales. Five years of lucrative
sheet music deals paved the way for the release of an ambitious gift album
for the 1853 Christmas season. Hall and Wallace considered that an elegant
volume would be ideal to grace the drawing rooms of society Americans. The
existence of this Album may well have given George Grove an idea (18 years
later) that such a volume could promote the young Arthur Sullivan by wedding
his music to lyrics by the Poet Laureate, Tennyson and made decorative by
elaborate artwork from John Millais. Of this Wallace volume that lies in the
National Library of Ireland it is known that only a few copies crossed the
Atlantic. It is rarely found in Britain, hence the interest of this facsimile
publication.
Of the pieces, six are vocal, two are dances and two are for piano alone.
The complexity of this Album’s music is moderately difficult for some
pieces and somewhat lighter for others. The pitching of complexity must have
been finely tuned by Wallace to maximise sales and so we can assume that society
ladies in American cities of this period were probably accomplished pianists.
Consequently, one envisages the pieces being played more on a drawing room
grand in a fine 19th century New York villa than on a parlour upright
in a suburban dwelling. Certainly, this volume with its fine presentation
was intended to be the ‘coffee table’ status signature of the
time.
Contents:
The Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (vocal)
Say my Heart can this be Love? (ballad)
Sisters of Mercy (vocal trio)
T’is the Harp in the Air
La Pluie d’Or (Valse)
The Village Festival, Schottishe (polka)
Invitation Polka
The Seasons pieces are prefaced with fine colour lithographs supplied by Sarony
& Major, a printing form new at the time that had arrived in New York
from Germany. Five of the six vocal pieces contain lyrics by critic, Henry
Cood Watson, son of Londoner, John Watson. The romance, ‘’T’is
the Harp in the Air’ is a fresh non-vocal setting from Wallace’s
opera, Maritana (1845) set in the same key.
The book has an informative introduction by Richard Bonynge and eight pages
of notes by Peter Jaggard. His very interesting commentary on Wallace the
composer and background to the Album’s pieces are clearly the result
of recent research. I was interested to hear that the two dances were very
popular in 1854 and that ‘Sisters of Mercy’ may well have
been taken from an unknown opera because it has lyrics by Fitzball. We have
long heard that Wallace might have composed a lost opera, The Maid of Zurich,
and this might well be the opera Fitzball loosely refers to in his Memoirs.
A nice touch to this publication is that it comes with a CD. Usefully, pianist
Una Hunt has recorded all tracks in a charming recording to help those who
don’t play. The songs are sung by Máire Flavin and the RIAM Vocal
Trio. This addition completes the picture of how the music would have been
received by the Ladies of America, to whom the Album is dedicated. I can see
that American collectors today will be very keen to get hold of a copy of
this limited edition.
Raymond J Walker
What could be a nicer way of celebrating the bicentenary of this important
yet forgotten composer.
Footnotes
1. The book can be easily obtained from the RTÉ shop in Dublin, Ireland
and conversion of currency will not be a problem. See
their site.
2. I also reviewed
the Wallace commemoration day in Dublin on 15 October 2012.