Adam de la Halle (1245–50 – 1285–8/after 1306) was a French poet-composer ''

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet ...

''. Among the few medieval composers to write both

monophonic Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

and polyphonic music, in this respect he has been considered both a conservative and progressive composer, resulting in a complex legacy: he cultivated admired representatives of older trouvère genres, but also experimented with newer dramatic works. Adam represented the final generation of the ''trouvère'' tradition and "has long been regarded as one of the most important musical and literary figures of thirteenth-century Europe". Adam's literary and musical works include

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

s and jeux-partis (poetic debates) in the style of the ''trouvères''; polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony; and a musical play, '' Jeu de Robin et Marion'' (), which is considered the earliest surviving

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

French play with music. He was a member of the

Confrérie des jongleurs et bourgeois d'Arras The Confrérie des jongleurs et bourgeois d'Arras was a fraternity of ''jongleurs'' founded in Arras, France in or around 1175. As its name implies, it was intended for ''jongleurs'' (not just trouvères) and the bourgeoisie, not just the knightl ...

, a fraternity of

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...

Life and career

A, "le Bossu d'Arras" and "Adam d'Arras", suggest that he came from Arras, France. The sobriquet "the

Hunchback Kyphosis is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can result ...

" was probably a family name; Adam himself points out that he was not one. His father, Henri de la Halle, was a well-known Citizen of Arras, and Adam studied

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, and music at the Cistercian

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

of Vaucelles, near Cambrai. Father and son had their share in the civil discords in Arras, and for a short time had been destined for the church, but renounced this intention, and married a certain Marie, who features in many of his songs, '' rondeaux'', motets and '' jeux-partis''. Afterwards he joined the household of Robert II, Count of Artois; and then was attached to

Charles of Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...

, brother of

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

, whose fortunes he followed in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Italy. At the court of Charles, after Charles became king of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Adam wrote his '' Jeu de Robin et Marion'', the most famous of his works.

Works

His known works include thirty-six chansons (literally, "songs"), forty-six ''rondets de carole'', eighteen ''jeux-partis'', fourteen '' rondeaux'', five motets, one '' rondeau-virelai'', one ''ballette'', one ''dit d'amour'', and one ''congé''. Adam's shorter pieces are accompanied by music, of which a transcript in modern notation, with the original score, is given in

Edmond de Coussemaker Charles Edmond Henri de Coussemaker (19 April 1805 – 10 January 1876) was a French musicologist and ethnologist focusing mainly on the cultural heritage of French Flanders. With Michiel de Swaen and Maria Petyt, he was one of the most eminent d ...

's edition. His ''Jeu de Robin et Marion'' is cited as the earliest French play with music on a secular subject. The pastoral, which tells how Marion resisted the knight, and remained faithful to Robert the shepherd, is based on an old chanson, ''Robin m'aime, Robin m'a''. It consists of dialogue varied by refrains already current in popular song. The melodies to which these are set have the character of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, and are more spontaneous and melodious than the more elaborate music of his songs and motets. Fétis considered ''Le Jeu de Robin et Marion'' and ''Le Jeu de la feuillée'' forerunners of the

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

.François-Joseph Fétis, ''Revue Musicale'' 1.1, 1827. An adaptation of ''Le Jeu Robin et Marion'', by Julien Tiersot, was played at Arras by a company from the Paris Opéra-Comique on the occasion of a festival in 1896 in honour of Adam de le Hale. His other play, ''Le jeu Adan'' or ''Le jeu de la Feuillee'' (ca. 1262), is a satirical drama in which he introduces himself, his father and the citizens of Arras with their peculiarities. His works include a ''congé'', or satirical farewell to the city of Arras, and an unfinished ''

chanson de geste The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th c ...

'' in honour of Charles of Anjou, ''Le roi de Secile'', begun in 1282; another short piece, ''Le jeu du pelerin'', is sometimes attributed to him.

Editions

* article by Paulin Paris in: ''Histoire litteraire de La France'' (vol. xx. pp. 638–675) *The edition of Adam's two jeux in: Monmerqué and Michel's ''Theatre francais au moyen age'' (1842) *''Oeuvres completes'' (1872), edited by E. de Coussemaker. *

Ernest Langlois Ernest Langlois ( Heippes, 4 September 1857 – Lille, 15 July 1924) was a French medievalist, professor at the University of Lille. He is best known for his 1910 work ''Les manuscrits du Roman de la Rose, description et classement'', on the manus ...

, ''Le jeu de Robin et Marion'' (1896), with a translation in modern French *''A Guesnon, La Satire a Arras au XIIIe, siecle'' (1900) *''Canchons et Partures des... Adan delle Hale'', a critical edition by Rudolf Berger,(Halle, 1900) * Nigel Wilkins, The Lyric Works of Adam de la Halle, ed., Corpus Musicae, Vol.44, American Institute of Musicology, 1967. * Recent French ed. of complete works: edited by Pierre-Yves Badel (Paris: Livre de poche, 1995) ()

Recordings

* 1955 – Adam de La Halle. ''Le jeu de Robin et de Marion''; ''13 rondeaux'' (Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Guillaume d'Amiens, Anon.). Pro Musica Antiqua, Brussels, Safford Cape, conductor. Recorded 23 June 1953, in the Palais des Academies, Brussels. Archiv Produktion II. Research Period: The Central Middle Ages. Series A: Troubadours, Trouvères and Minnesingers; Series B: Music of the Minstrels; Series C: Early Polyphony before 1300. LP recording, 1 disc: analog, monaural, rpm, 12 in. ermany Archiv Produktion. * 1991 – Adam de La Halle. ''Le jeu de Robin et Marion''. Ensemble Perceval, Guy Robert, director. Recorded 1980. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, in. Arion ARN 68162. France: Arion. * 1991 – Adam de La Halle. ''Le jeu de Robin et Marion''. Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Thomas Binkley, cond. Recorded May 1987 at the Barfüsserkirche in Basel, Switzerland. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, in. Focus 913. loomington, Ind. Focus. * 1998 – "Robin Loves Me" arranged for solo guitar (and performed by) Gareth Koch as the final track of his "Carmina Burana" CD released by ABC Classics in 2006. * 2004 – Zodiac. Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior in the Low Countries and Europe''

Capilla Flamenca Capilla Flamenca is a vocal and instrumental early music consort based in Leuven, Belgium. The group specialises in 14th to 16th century music from Flanders and takes its name from the historical Flemish chapel (capilla flamenca), the choir of the c ...

. Eufoda 1360. * 2006 – Adam de La Halle. ''D'amoureus cuer voel chanter'', Anne Delafosse-Quentin, Les Jardins de Courtoisie, Zig Zag Territoires (ZZT070401) *2019 - Noel Akchoté. Adam de La Halle - Le Doux Regard de ma Dame. Self published.

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

Extensive bibliography
of Adam de la Halle and his works * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam de la Halle 1237 births 1288 deaths 13th-century French poets 13th-century French composers French male classical composers Trouvères People from Arras French male dramatists and playwrights French male poets Medieval male composers 13th-century French dramatists and playwrights