VICTORIN

JONCIERES (1839–1903)  , French composer, was born in Paris on the 12th of April 1839 . He first devoted his attention to painting, but afterwards took up the serious study of music . He entered the Paris Conservatoire, but did not remain there long, because he had espoused too warmly the cause of Wagner against his professor . He composed the following operas: Sardanapale (1867), Le Dernier jour de Pampei (1869), Dimitri (1876), La Reine Berthe (1878), Le Chevalier Jean (1885), Lancelot (1900) . He also wrote incidental music to Hamlet, a symphony, and other works . Joncieres' admiration for Wagner asserted itself rather in a musical than a dramatic sense . The influence of the German master's earlier style can be traced in his operas . Joncieres, however, adhered to the recognized forms of the French opera and did not model his works according to the later developments of the Wagnerian " music drama." He may indeed be said to have been at least as much influenced by Gouno.d as by Wagner . From 1871 he was musical critic for La Liberte' . He died on the 26th of October 1903 .