For further information, please visit Mr. Basil Walsh´s wonderful web page on Balfe:
http://www.britishandirishworld.com/
You can also read the following books and articles:
BARRETT, W. A., Balfe, His Life and Work, 1882
BIDDLECOMBE, G., English Opera 1834-64 and the Works of Michael Balfe, 1994
KENNY, C. L., A Memoir of Michael W. Balfe, 1875
TYLDESLEY, William, Michael William Balfe: His Life and His English Operas (Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain),Aldershot (England), Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2003(see cover above)
WALSH, Basil, "Michael William Balfe (1808-1870): his life and career", in
http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/balfe/bio1.html
WALSH, Basil, Michael William Balfe: a unique Victorian composer, Irish Academic Press, 2007 (with a foreward by Richard Bonynge) - A recent biography published for the composer's bicentenary celebrations in 2008. (see cover above)
http://www.balfebiography.com/
