BALFE, MICHAEL WILLIAM Irish mu sic composer, was born on May 15, 18o8, at Dublin, the son of a dancing master. At the age of seven he composed a polacca and two years later appeared in public as a violinist. On the death of his father in 1823 he was engaged as a violinist in the orchestra of Drury lane, and then made an unsuccessful debut as a barytone at Norwich in Der Freischiutz. In 1825 he was taken to Rome by Count Mazzara, being introduced to Cherubini on the way. In Italy he wrote his first dramatic work, a ballet, La Perouse. At the close of 1827 he appeared as Figaro in Rossini's Il Barbiere at the Italian opera in Paris. Returning to Italy, he remained there some nine years, singing at various theatres and composing a num ber of operas. During this time he married Mlle. Luisa Roser, a Hungarian singer whom he had met at Bergamo. Fetis says that the public indignation roused by an attempt at "improving" Meyerbeer's opera Il Crociato by interpolated music of his own compelled Balfe to throw up his engagement at the theatre La Fenice in Venice. By this time he had produced his first complete opera, I Rivali di se stessi, at Palermo in the carnival season of ; the opera Un Avvertimento ai gelosi at Pavia ; and En rico Quarto at Milan, where he had been engaged to sing with Malibran at the Scala. He returned to England in the spring of 1833, and on Oct. 29, 1835 his Siege of Rochelle was rapturously received at Drury lane. The Maid of Artois followed on May 27, 1836—the success of the opera being confirmed by the exquisite singing of Malibran. In 1838 he sang the part of Papageno in the first performance of The Magic Flute in English. Balfe was a pro lific composer. His English operas alone include : Siege of Rochelle (1835) ; The Maid of Artois (1836) ; Catherine Grey (1837) ; Joan of Arc (183 7) ; Falstaff (1838, Lablache in title-role) ; Amelia, or the Love Test (1838) ; Keolanthe (1841) ; The Bohe mian Girl (Nov. 27, 1843) ; The Daughter of St. Mark ; The Enchantress (5845); The Bondman (1846) ; The Devil's in it (184 7) ; The Maid of Honour (184 7) ; The Sicilian Bride (1852); The Rose of Castile (1857); Satanella (1858); Bianca (186o) ; The Puritan's Daughter (1861) ; The Armourer of Nantes (1863) ; Blanche de Nevers (1863) . Of all these works the most famous and successful was, of course, The Bohemian Girl, which was given all over Europe, and which even to-day keeps its place in the active repertory. Balfe also wrote several operas for the Opera Comique and Grand Opera in Paris, where MM. Scribe and St. George provided him with the libretti for his Le Puits d'amour (1843) and his Les Quatre Fils Aymon (1844). His L'Etoile de Seville was written in 1845 for the Academie Royale. In 1864 he retired to Rowney Abbey, Hertfordshire, and amused himself with farming. The briefest account of Balfe would be incomplete which did not mention that he was the composer of "When other Lips" and "I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls." He died on Oct. 20, 1870.