1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Joncières, Victorin

JONCIÈRES, VICTORIN (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 Pompéi (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. Joncières’ 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. Joncières, 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 Gounod as by Wagner. From 1871 he was musical critic for La Liberté. He died on the 26th of October 1903.