Adam de la Halle (EN)

Adam de la Halle [adʹaⁿ d^e la ´al], A. de la Hale, A. le Bossu, A. d’Arras, *circa 1245 Arras, † circa 1285?, French poet and composer. He probably studied in Paris, and after returning home to Arras, most likely in the 1260s, he was a member of a local singer’s guild (puy) and married Maroie, whom he mentions multiple times in his works. In Arras, he became friends with the trouvère Jehan Bretel, who was his “interlocutor” in 16 “jeux-partis” and had a significant impact on his work. Around 1271, he became a minister in the service of Robert II, Count of d’Artios. From 1283 he stayed at the court of the King of Sicily, Charles d’Anjou (†1285) in Naples. In 1289, his nephew mentions him as dead, yet in a document from 1306, among the musicians involved in the coronation of Edward II in London, a certain “maistre Adam le Boscu” is mentioned, who might be the poet.

Adam de la Halle is one of the most outstanding and versatile composers of the 13th century. His work closes the period of trouvères, which at the end of the century bore clear signs of decadence. Nevertheless, it had some influence on later composers, e.g. virelais Guillaume de Machaut. Chansons and jeux-partis of Adam de la Halle are usually related to the theme of “courtly love,” although they also include religious works (Glorieuse vierge Marie). They have sophisticated versification and rhyming schemes and are written in a moderately decorative style. They are usually in “major” modes (F, C, G), and the stanza takes the form AAB. Adam de la Halle was the first remarkable trouvère who crossed the boundaries of monody by composing polyphonic songs and motets. Polyphonic rondeaux consist of one stanza with the text arranged syllabically in a homorhythmic style with expressive dance rhythms. Adam’s five motets are French double motets based on a chorale tenor. Several motets are also sometimes attributed to him, in which (usually in the motetus voice) material from his rondeaux is used. Among Adam de la Halle’s jeux, only in Le jeu de Robin et de Marion, there are numerous musical in-words. One of them, corresponding to the words “Audigier dist Raimberge, bouse vous di,” contains perhaps a unique quote from a melody from some chanson de geste.

Literature: R. Meienreis A. de la Halles Spiel Robin et Marion, Munich 1893; H. Guy Essai sur la vie et les oeuores littéraires du trouvère A. de la Halle, Paris 1898; E. Langlois Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion, Paris 1924; G. Cohen, J. Chailley A. le Bossu dit de la Halle, Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion, Paris 1935; G. Reaney The Development of the Rondeau, Virelai and Ballade Forms from A. de la Halle to Guillaume de Machaut, in: K.G. Fellerer’ festschrift, Regensburg 1962; F. Gegou A. de la Halle est-il mort on 1288?, „Romania” LXXXVI, 1965; N.R. Cartier La mort d’A. le Bossu, „Romania” LXXXIX, 1968, J. Dufournet Adam de la Halle à la recherche de lui-même ou le Jeu de Feuillée, Paris 1974; R. Barth-Wehrenalp Der „Trouvère” Adam de la Halle – ein französischer Meistersänger, congress book Copenhagen 1972, ed. H. Glahn, S. Sorensen, P. Ryom, Kopenhaga 1974; J. Stevens „La grande chanson courtoise”. The Songs of Adam de la Halle, „Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association” CI, 1974–75; J. Maillard Adam de la Halle. Perspective musicale, Paris 1982; M. Benson L’aspect musical du Jeu de la feuillée, „Romania. Revue consacrée à l’étude des langues et des littératures romanes” CVI, 1985; S. Huot Transformations of Lyric Voice in the Songs, Motets and Plays of Adam de la Halle, „Romanic Review” LXXVIII, 1987; M.C. Steel A Reappraisal of the Role of Music in Adam de la Halle’s Jeu de Robin et de Marion, in: G.S. McPeek’s festschrift, Filadelfia 1988; N Van Deusen The Paradox of Privacy in the Love Songs of Adam de la Halle, in: The Cultural Millieu of the Troubadours and Trouvères, ed. N. Van Deusen, «Musicological Studies/Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen» LXII/1, Ottawa 1994; M. Everist ‘Souspirant en terre estrainge’: The Polyphonic Rondeau from Adam de la Halle to Guillaume de Machaut, „Early Music History” XXVI, 2007; M. Everist Motets, French Tenors, and the Polyphonic Chanson ca. 1300, „The Journal of Musicology” XXIV, 2007, no. 3; C.A. Bradley Choosing a Thirteenth-Century Motet Tenor: From the Magnus liber organi to Adam de la Halle, „Journal of the American Musicological Society” LXXII, 2019, no. 2; J. Salzstein The Refrain and the Rise of the Vernacular in Medieval French Music and Poetry, «Gallica» XXX, Cambridge 2013; Musical Culture in the World of Adam de la Halle, ed. J. Saltzstein, «Brill’s Companions to the Musical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Europe» III, Leiden-Boston 2019.