Wallace was greatly influenced by
Franz Liszt, and was an early (though not the first) composer of
symphonic poems in Britain. He was one of the composers featured in
Granville Bantock's concert of new music by himself and his friends, put on at
Queen's Hall on 15 December 1896, for which Wallace wrote a "manifesto". (Other composers included in this group were Erskine Allon,
Arthur Hinton,
Stanley Hawley and
Reginald Steggall). His compositions include the symphonic poem,
Sir William Wallace (1905; based on his namesake, the
freedom fighter William Wallace, one of Scotland's
national heroes); a cantata,
The Massacre of the Macpherson; and an overture,
In Praise of Scottish Poesie (1894). He also wrote a
Creation Symphony (1899), influenced by
numerology. He was inspired by
Maurice Maeterlinck's play,
Pelléas and Mélisande, to write music by the same name. Wallace wrote several books on music, including the following: •
The Threshold of Music: An Inquiry into the Development of the Musical Sense (1908); •
The Musical Faculty (1914); •
Richard Wagner as he lived (1925) •
Liszt, Wagner and the Princess (1927) He served as secretary of the
Royal Philharmonic Society from 1911 to 1913, during which time the society received its royal appointment. Wallace later served as Dean of the Faculty of Music in the
University of London. He would frequently use the
Hebrew letter
shin in his artwork, due to its resemblance to a W. During the
First World War, he served as inspector of ophthalmic units in Eastern Command, at the rank of
captain. In the late 20th century, there was a revival of interest in his work. The
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra recorded several of his orchestral pieces on the
Hyperion record label. ==Personal life==