Adam de la Halle (c. 1240-1287); FRA

Adam de la Halle (c. 1245–c. 1288), also known as Adam le Bossu, was born in Arras in northern France and was one of the most versatile poet-composers of the thirteenth century. He belonged to the tradition of the trouvères, cultivated poet-musicians who wrote in the vernacular language of northern France. Adam studied in Paris and later entered the service of Robert II, Count of Artois, whom he accompanied to Naples. His surviving writings reveal an unusually broad literary and musical range, encompassing courtly song, satire, drama, and polyphony.

Adam’s music stands at the intersection of the monophonic trouvère tradition and the developing art of polyphony. He wrote chansons, jeux-partis, rondeaux, motets, and dramatic works, and is especially remembered for Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, a pastoral play with songs that is among the earliest surviving secular musical dramas in the vernacular. His Le Jeu de la feuillée is an equally remarkable theatrical work, blending fantasy, satire, and autobiographical elements. Because so much of his music and poetry survives, Adam provides an unusually vivid picture of secular musical culture in medieval France.

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