Adam de la Halle

Adam de la Halle is also referred to as Adam le Boscu d'Arras, Adam d'Arras, and Adan le Bossu (the hunchback; although he was not). He was born in Arras France and died either in England or in Naples. A number of works have been attributed to Adam many of which are highly contested by musicologists. This is because of the many genres of music accredited to him. The genres include monophonic songs, jeux-partis, rondeaux, and three plays with musical insertions. His non-musical works are epic poems ranging in style from the courtly lyric to songs of war (much dated in his time). Adam de la Halle's "Jeu d'Adam" is compared and contrasted with the like of "Canterbury Tales," the "Decameron," and "Don Quixote," for its strength and character. The work falls short but almost does not pale in comparison. Adam's jeux-partis are all single voiced, many in the key of C major and characterized by similar vocal ranges. (Many of these pieces were written in conjunction with Bretel.) The style of these works exhibits the then standard wave-like ascending and descending lines within the first two phrases. The first and last two lines of his jeux-partis indicate a penchant for complementarity. In a different genre most of de la Halle's rondeaux (polyphonic) were appropriately suited for the times. They are not rondeaux by modern standards; the music repeats an initial refrain which is "returned to" often, hence, the "round". Two exceptions include a note-for-note style in which the middle voice (often sounding the lowest) contains the melody. The authentic motets attributed to Adam de la Halle are based on plainchant tenors but others -- attributed to him because of quoted refrains -- are written in French secular tenors. His most musical of three dramatic works was "Robin et Marion." Arguably much of the music was not original as it was probably taken from then popular melodies. In the history of music Adam de la Halle holds a place as one of the last great masters of the monophonic chanson tying him to the past; he also wrote motets and dramatic polyphonies which did not influence his immediate antecedents but non-sequentially connected him to generations in the future. ~ Keith Johnson, All Music Guide