Adam de la Halle (lived from about 1245 to 1250 and died between 1285 and 1288, or possibly after 1306) was a French poet and composer known as a trouvère. He was one of the few medieval composers who created both music with a single voice (monophonic) and music with multiple voices (polyphonic). Because of this, he is seen as both traditional and innovative, leading to a complex legacy. He preserved respected styles of older trouvère music but also tried new forms of dramatic works. Adam was the last major figure in the trouvère tradition and has been called one of the most important musical and literary figures in 13th-century Europe.

His works include chansons (songs) and jeux-partis (poetic debates) in the style of trouvères; polyphonic rondels and motets, which follow early religious music styles; and a musical play called Jeu de Robin et Marion (around 1282–83), which is the oldest known secular French play with music. He was part of the Confrérie des jongleurs et bourgeois d'Arras, a group of entertainers and performers.

Life and career

Adam had other nicknames, such as "le Bossu d'Arras" and "Adam d'Arras," which suggest he came from Arras, France. The nickname "the Hunchback" was likely a family name; Adam himself stated he was not hunchbacked. His father, Henri de la Halle, was a well-known citizen of Arras, and Adam studied grammar, theology, and music at the Cistercian abbey of Vaucelles, near Cambrai. Both father and son were involved in civil conflicts in Arras and briefly took refuge in Douai. Adam was originally intended for a church career but later gave up this path and married a woman named Marie, who appears in many of his songs, rondeaux, motets, and jeux-partis. Afterward, he joined the household of Robert II, Count of Artois, and later served Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. Adam followed Charles’s travels to Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Italy.

At the court of Charles, after he became king of Naples, Adam wrote his most famous work, Jeu de Robin et Marion.

Works

Adam de la Halle is known for creating many musical works, including thirty-six chansons (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.

His shorter musical pieces are accompanied by written music. A version of this music, written in modern notation and including the original score, is found in an edition by Edmond de Coussemaker. His play Jeu de Robin et Marion is considered the earliest French play with music about a non-religious subject. The story, called The Pastoral, describes how Marion resists a knight and stays loyal to Robert, a shepherd. It is based on an older song, Robin m'aime, Robin m'a, and includes dialogue mixed with popular song refrains. The melodies used in the play resemble folk music, which is simpler and more lively than the more complex music in his other songs and motets. Fétis believed Jeu de Robin et Marion and Jeu de la feuillée were early examples of comic opera. A version of Jeu de Robin et Marion by Julien Tiersot was performed in Arras in 1896 during a festival honoring Adam de la Halle.

Another play by Adam, Le jeu Adan or Le jeu de la Feuillee (about 1262), is a satirical drama in which he introduces himself, his father, and the people of Arras, highlighting their unique traits. His works also include a congé, a satirical farewell to the city of Arras, and an unfinished chanson de geste, Le roi de Secile, written in honor of Charles of Anjou, which he began in 1282. Another short piece, Le jeu du pelerin, is sometimes credited to him.

• Article by Paulin Paris in Histoire littéraire de la France (vol. xx, pp. 638–675)
• Edition of Adam’s two jeux in Théâtre français au Moyen Âge by Monmerqué and Michel (1842)
• Oeuvres complètes (1872), edited by E. de Coussemaker
• Ernest Langlois, Le jeu de Robin et Marion (1896), with a modern French translation
• A. Guesnon, La Satire à Arras au XIIIe siècle (1900)
• Chansons et Partures des… Adan delle Hale, a critical edition by Rudolf Berger (Halle, 1900)
• Nigel Wilkins, The Lyric Works of Adam de la Halle, edited by Corpus Musicae, Vol. 44, American Institute of Musicology (1967)
• Recent French edition of complete works, edited by Pierre-Yves Badel (Paris: Livre de poche, 1995) (ISBN 2-253-06656-7)

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, with Safford Cape as the conductor. Recorded on June 23, 1953, at the Palais des Academies in Brussels. Archiv Produktion II. Research Focus: 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, 33 1/3 rpm, 12 inches. [Germany]: Archiv Produktion.

• 1991 – Adam de La Halle. Le jeu de Robin et Marion. Ensemble Perceval, Guy Robert as the director. Recorded in 1980. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, 4 3/4 inches. Arion ARN 68162. France: Arion.

• 1991 – Adam de La Halle. Le jeu de Robin et Marion. Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Thomas Binkley as the conductor. Recorded in May 1987 at the Barfüsserkirche in Basel, Switzerland. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, stereo, 4 3/4 inches. Focus 913. [Bloomington, 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. Eufoda 1360.

• 2006 – Adam de La Halle. D'amoureus cuer voel chanter, performed by Anne Delafosse-Quentin and Les Jardins de Courtoisie. Zig Zag Territoires (ZZT070401).

• 2019 – Noel Akchoté. Adam de La Halle – Le Doux Regard de ma Dame. Self-published.