Louis Adam or Jean-Louis Adam (born Johann Ludwig Adam) (3 December 1758 – 8 April 1848) was a French composer, music teacher, and piano

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

.Baker, Theodore
"Adam, Louis
in '' A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', p. 3 (New York: G. Schirmer, 1905).

Life and career

Born in

Muttersholtz Muttersholtz (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Alsace in north-eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department References

Communes of Bas-Rhin Bas ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, the son of Mathias Adam and Marie-Dorothée Meyer, Adam went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1775 to study piano and harpsichord with

Jean-Frédéric Edelmann Jean-Frédéric Edelmann (born Johann Friedrich Edelmann; 5 May 1749 – 17 July 1794) was a French classical composer. He was born in Strasbourg to a Protestant family of Alsatian descent. After studying law and music, he moved to Paris in 17 ...

. He spent over four decades, from 1797 through 1842, as Professor of Pianoforte at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

, retiring in 1842 (at age 84), and died in the city, aged 89. As professor, he was the teacher of a number of notable students, including

Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul (10 June 1790 – 10 March 1875) was a French composer and music educator. He served as the first director of the Royal Conservatory of Liège from 1826–1862; having been appointed to that post by William I of the Nethe ...

Friedrich Kalkbrenner Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (7 November 1785 – 10 June 1849), also known as ''Frédéric Kalkbrenner'', was a pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer. German by birth, Kalkbrenner studied at the Conservatoire de Paris ...

Ferdinand Hérold Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold (28 January 1791 – 19 January 1833), better known as Ferdinand Hérold (), was a French composer. He was celebrated in his lifetime for his operas, of which he composed more than twenty, but he also wrote ballet mus ...

,Brubaker, Bruce and Gottlieb, Jane (eds), ''Pianist, Scholar, Connoisseur: Essays in Honor of Jacob Lateiner'' (Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 2000), p. 39, . and

Henry Lemoine Henry Lemoine (21 October 1786 – 18 May 1854) was a French music publisher, composer, and piano teacher. Life Henry Lemoine was born in Paris, to Antoine Marcel Lemoine and his wife. His father was a music publisher. The boy became a pupil ...

. In addition to being a skilled pianist, he composed a number of piano pieces that were in vogue at the time, especially some variations on '' Le Bon roi Dagobert''. He also wrote two standard instruction books for piano: ''Méthode ou principe générale du doigté pour le forté-piano'' (1798) and ''Méthode nouvelle pour le piano'' (1802). In 1804, he published the ''Méthode de piano du Conservatoire'', an influential work, which contributed to the advancement of piano technique in Paris. Adam was married three times. His second wife was the sister of the Count de Louvois; the couple had a daughter, Sophie, later married to Colonel Genot. After his separation, Adam remarried to Élisabeth-Charlotte-Jeanne (known as Élisa) Coste, daughter of a doctor. The couple had two boys, Adolphe Charles Adam (1803) (future popular composer, author of the ballet ''Giselle'', the comic opera ''The Postillon of Lonjumeau'', and the Christmas carol ''Midnight, Christians'') and Alphonse Hippolyte Adam (1808).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Louis 1758 births 1848 deaths People from the Province of Alsace 18th-century French classical composers 19th-century French classical composers French Classical-period composers 18th-century French male classical pianists 18th-century French classical pianists French male composers Alsatian-German people 19th-century French male classical pianists 19th-century French classical pianists Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Musicians from Bas-Rhin Composers for piano People from Alsace