Adolphe Charles Adam
1803 - 1856
Biography
Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer, pianist, teacher, and member of the Académie des beaux-arts, born in Paris on July 24, 1803. The Bibliothèque nationale de France identifies him as a composer and piano professor at the Paris Conservatoire; he was elected to the Académie des beaux-arts in 1844 and became an officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1847. His career centered on opera, opéra-comique, ballet, and theatrical music. His best-known stage works include the ballet Giselle and the opéra-comique Le Postillon de Lonjumeau.
In December 1847 Adam composed the musical setting for Placide Cappeau's French Christmas text. The BnF catalogs the work as Minuit chrétiens or Cantique de Noël, dates the composition to Roquemaure in December 1847, and describes its original scoring as solo voice with keyboard. Unlike hymns whose familiar melodies were paired with their texts generations later, Adam's music was created specifically for Cappeau's poem and belongs to the work's earliest documented history.
The tune is now generally known in English-language hymnals as CANTIQUE DE NOEL. Adam died in Paris on May 3, 1856, before John Sullivan Dwight's English version had become widely established in American print.
In December 1847 Adam composed the musical setting for Placide Cappeau's French Christmas text. The BnF catalogs the work as Minuit chrétiens or Cantique de Noël, dates the composition to Roquemaure in December 1847, and describes its original scoring as solo voice with keyboard. Unlike hymns whose familiar melodies were paired with their texts generations later, Adam's music was created specifically for Cappeau's poem and belongs to the work's earliest documented history.
The tune is now generally known in English-language hymnals as CANTIQUE DE NOEL. Adam died in Paris on May 3, 1856, before John Sullivan Dwight's English version had become widely established in American print.
Hymns by Adolphe Charles Adam
O Holy Night
Role: Composer