[1] Son of a political writer and editor of La Patrie and Constitutionel, he was born at Paris, and his first musical lessons were from aunts.

However, after hearing one of Richard Wagner's first concerts in the French capital, he had a disagreement with the professors, and in 1860, abandoned his studies to devote himself to composition.

[2] He composed some incidental music for Hamlet (performed both in Paris and Nantes), but found little success with two operas produced at the Théâtre Lyrique: Sardanapale (based on Byron, with Christina Nilsson, 1867) and Les Derniers jours de Pompéi (from the novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1869).

[3] His violin concerto was played at the Conservatoire in 1870 by Jules Danbé, and a Symphonie romantique at the Concert national in 1873.

From 1871 to 1900, he wrote on music for La Liberté (using the pseudonym "Jennius"[4]), penning biting criticisms of earlier opéra comique composers and of Berlioz.