Born: 1245–50. Arras, France
Died: 1285–88. Naples, Italy; or after 1306 in England
Adam de la Halle
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French poet and composer of monophonic and polyphonic music. Often cited as the "last of the Trouvères."
Adam de la Halle presents a biographical puzzle for historians. Since few documents
survive to tell us who he was and what he did in his life, we must rely on autobiographical
references in his poetry to piece together his biography. In addition, what
we do know about his life and works makes it hard for us to fit him into a tidy
historical niche. He was at once a composer ahead of his time and a composer
looking back at older ideas.
When we look at the Trouvères (and at their predecessors, the Troubadours),
we often find people whose entire lives revolved around a single court—either
as rulers or as valued members of that court. Adam's life is not as straightforward
as that. We know, for example, that he probably studied at the University of
Paris (he is referred to as "master" and "well educated"
in some documents). We also know that he traveled more than many of his contemporaries,
serving in courts in France as well as Italy and possibly England. His music,
primarily monophonic chansons and jeux-partis (collaborative musical and poetic
contests), follows the model of an older generation. At the same time, his interest
in plays incorporating music (The Play of Robin and Marion, for example), as
well as his polyphonic chansons and motets, points clearly toward the future.
In many ways, we might want to look at him in the same light as we do a composer
of a later generation: Guillaume de Machaut. Rather than the "last of
the Trouvères," perhaps Adam is a fascinating stop in a continuum
of artistic creation in medieval French society stretching almost to the Renaissance.
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