Arthur Duke Coleridge

“ Amongst his unpublished manuscripts are some charming duets for pianoforte and oboe, written for Alfred Pollock, a Cambridge undergraduate, whose remarkable oboe-playing Walmisley much admired. To this day Walmisley's reputation as an artist is a tradition loyally upheld in Trinity College; and none that heard him accompany the services in chapel can wonder at the belief of Cambridge men that as a cathedral organist he has been excelled by none. ”

“ It may be said confidently that the number of English musicians, who five-and-thirty years ago were acquainted with any of Bach's music beyond the 48 Preludes and Fugues, might be counted on the fingers, and Walmisley fearlessly preached to Cambridge men the same musical doctrine that Mendelssohn and Schumann enforced in Germany. ”

“ A larger professional area, a closer neighbourhood with possible rivals, would have ensured a deeper cultivation of powers which bore fruit, but promised a still richer harvest. In general cultivation and knowledge of musical history he was far in advance of most English musicians. ”