Chansons, Rondeaux, Motets

Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam d’Arras or le Bossu d’Arras, was a trouvère active in the 13th century. He was probably born around 1240, in or near Arras, and died sometime between 1285 and 1288 at the court of the Count of Artois in Naples, Southern Italy. Some sources suggest his death occurred around 1306 after a return to Arras and a possible trip to England, but these claims are considered speculative.

As a poet and composer, Adam de la Halle played a significant role in both literary and musical history. He is often referred to as the last of the trouvères. His work acts a bridge between monophonic music, practised by the troubadours of Southern France and the trouvères of the North in the 12th and 13th centuries, and early developments in polyphonic music, which originated with musicians of the Notre-Dame School in Paris around 1200.

Adam de la Halle is credited with writing the first two preserved secular French theatre pieces: “Le Jeu de la feuillée” (1276) and “Le Jeu de Robin et Marion” (circa 1274-1282). “Le Jeu de la Feuillée”, also known as “Le Jeu Adam” (circa 1262), is a satirical piece portraying the poet’s farewell (Congé) and includes depictions of his father and the citizens of Arras with their unique traits and flaws. He also composed a chanson de geste in honour of Charles of Anjou, “king of Sicily”, started in 1282, and is sometimes attributed with the brief poem “Le Jeu du pèlerin”.

“Le Jeu de Robin et Marion”, staging a pastoral (a genre where a knight attempts to woo a shepherdess), is often mistakenly seen as a precursor to comic opera. However, this is inaccurate, as the theatrical and musical form of opera-comique emerged gradually in the early 18th century and is not directly linked to Adam’s 13th-century work.

As a lyrical poet, apart from the aforementioned “Congé”, Adam de la Halle composed a large number of motets and rondeaux, such as “Je muir, je muir d’amorete”, the music for which is extant.

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