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| Thomas Attwood Walmisley |
Thomas Forbes Gerrard Walmisley (Walmisley' father)
John E West has suggested his premature death was 'hastened by an unwise indulgence in lethal remedies'. Stanford commented that 'Walmisley … was a victim of four o’clock dinners in Hall, and long symposiums in the Combination Room after; and being a somewhat lonely bachelor, the excellent port of the College cellars was, at times, more his master than his servant'. As a composer, Walmisley is chiefly known for his setting of the Evening Canticles in D minor, perhaps the only Magnificat which begins with the bass and tenor lines at full volume - certainly not a typical "Song of Mary"!
Walmisley senior was born in Westminster, London in 1783, the third son of William Walmisley, Clerk of the House of Lords papers. Like his brothers, he was a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and was educated at Westminster School. He studied music with John Spencer and Thomas Attwood (see below) and in 1796 is recorded as having sung in oratorios in Covent Garden. In 1814 he succeeded Robert Cooke as organist of St Martin-in-the-Fields resigning, with a pension, in March 1854. From 1803 he taught piano and singing becoming famous as a teacher; his alumni included Edward John Hopkins. In 1810 Walmisley married the eldest daughter of William Capon, an architectural draftsman. Thomas Attwood Walmisley was his eldest son (of six sons and four daughters who survived infancy), whose Cathedral Music he edited in 1857.
Thomas Attwood (Walmisley's godfather)
His godfather was the composer and organist Thomas Attwood wo took responsibility for the boy Walmisley's education and music tuition. Born the son of a musician in the royal band, at the age of nine Attwood became a chorister in the Chapel Royal, where he received training in music from James Nares and Edmund Ayrton. In 1783 he was sent to study abroad at the expense of the Prince of Wales (afterwards King George IV), who had been impressed by his skill at the harpsichord. After two years in Naples, Attwood proceeded to Vienna, where he became a favourite pupil of Mozart. On his return to London in 1787 he held for a short time an appointment as one of the chamber musicians to the Prince of Wales.
With the support of these two musicians Thomas Attwood Walmisley excellent academically and musically. He was organist of Croydon Parish Church in 1830 before becoming organist at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1833 at the age of 19, where he became well known for his composition. (He was simultaneously organist for the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge.) Graduating in music, he went on to obtain his Doctorate. In 1836 Walmisley was made Professor of Music at Cambridge. His bond with his father sustained throughout his life, his father editing his cathedral music edited after his death. Walmisley died in 1856, and is buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church, Fairlight, East Sussex.
