Adolphe Adam

Adolphe Charles Adam (July 24, 1803, Paris - May 3, 1856, Paris), known as Adolphe Adam, was a French composer.

Biography

He was born into a musical environment. It was his father, the renowned pianist, composer and professor at the Paris Conservatory, Louis Adam (1758-1848), who introduced him to the world of music and composition. Adam was a friend of Héctor Berlioz, who nicknamed him “le faiseur de contredanses”. He was a student of François-Adrien Boïeldieu without standing out enough.

Childhood and youth

As a child he was reluctant to study music theory, preferring to improvise to his own music. He, too, was reluctant to learn Latin or grammar.

He joined the orchestra of the Théâtre du Gymnase with the aim of seeing the singers, the dancers, the orchestra, the scores, as well as the audience's reactions up close. He began playing the triangle, then he was appointed percussionist (timpanist) and in 1822, when the owner died, he became choirmaster and was the titular timpanist.

At the age of 20, he was composing songs for Parisian vaudevilles, and he deployed the same strategy as at the Gymnase: to make himself known, he composed for free the authors of Parisian vaudevilles.

In 1821 he entered the Paris Conservatoire.

Adult Life

His successful career began with Pierre et Catherine (1829, Opera), notable among his production was the ballet Giselle (1841), and the opera Si j' étais roi (1852, Théâtre-Lyrique).

The publisher Pleyel offered him three thousand francs for the score of Pierre et Catherine, thus assuring a composer that in the following months he would be prolific with works with Isature, Danilowa, Henry V and Raphaël which were successfully accepted by the public.

In 1825 he helped his teacher François-Adrien Boïeldieu to prepare his opera La Dame blanche, which he also transcribed for piano.

With this money, Adam traveled through Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland. In Geneva, he met the librettist Eugène Scribe, with whom he would collaborate on many operas over the next 30 years. An example of this collaboration is the music for a libretto by Scribe for an opera in one act, La Bateliêre de Brientz, which premiered with great success in 1827. He married Sarah Lescot, a vaudeville showgirl.

Career success

In 1830 his first ballet premiered, La Chatte blanche written in collaboration with Casmir Gide, and his first three-act opera Danilowa (1830), whose performances They were interrupted by the Revolution.

The French political climate was not conducive to theater activity, so Adam decided to go to England, where he performed at the French Theater in London and at Covent Garden.

In 1832 he premiered His first campaign and set to music Lady Blessington's masterpiece, The Eolian Harp. In 1833 he premiered at the King's Theater his first solo ballet, Faust, choreographed by André Deshayes.

In 1836 he did his first work for the Paris Opera, which was the music for the ballet La Fille du Danube. In October 1836, he premiered at the Opéra Comique, Le Postillon de Lonjumeau, with a Brunswick and Leuven libretto.

In 1847, with his own money and loans, he opened the National Theater in Paris. But, because of the Revolution, it had to be closed the following year. He was practically ruined and had to dedicate himself to journalism to be able to earn a living.

Adam went on to compose 40 operas and 14 ballets. He also cantatas, hymns, masses, choruses, piano pieces, pantomimes, military marches, and plays. From 1849 until his death he was professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. His Christmas carol titled "Cantique de Noël", translated into English as " Or Holy Night ", is known worldwide.

The overture to the opera Si j’étais roi, is part of the international repertoire, and is one of his Christmas songs, “Minuit chrétiens”, which is still valid in France.

In the Constitutionnel of January 4, 1855, Adam wrote: “I have no ambition, in my music for the theatre, than to make it clear, easy to understand, and amusing for the audience. I can't do anything but little music, it's a fact. I am content then with doing what I can, what I know, and I hope that the public gets tired of me to stop writing."

Death

Adam is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris.

Main works

Ballets

La Chatte blanche (1830)

Faust (1833)

The Fille du Danube (1836)

Les Mohicans (1837)

L'Écumeur des mers (1840)

Les Hamadryades (1840)

Giselle (1841)

The Jolie Fille of Gand (1842)

Le Diable à quatre (1843)

The Marvel Phille (1845)

Griseldis ou Les Cinq Sens (1848)

Le Filleule des fées (1849)

Orfa (1852)

Le Corsaire (1856)

Operas