Adolphe Adam

Adolphe Charles Adam (1803–1856) was a French composer whose ballet scores have proved among the most enduring in the entire repertoire. Born in Paris to a musical family — his father was a pianist and professor at the Paris Conservatoire — he studied there under François-Adrien Boïeldieu and early established himself as a prolific and fluent writer for the stage.

His masterpiece, Giselle (1841), was composed with extraordinary speed — reportedly in three weeks — for the Paris Opéra. Its score combines melodic beauty with a sophisticated use of leitmotif (anticipating Wagner by several years) and a vivid capacity for dramatic characterisation, moving from the sunlit folk dances of Act I to the supernatural pallor of the Wilis in Act II with consummate skill. Giselle became one of the cornerstones of the Romantic ballet repertoire and has never left the stage.

Adam was also a distinguished opera composer and critic. His comic opera Le Postillon de Lonjumeau (1836) enjoyed great success. He founded the Théâtre National in Paris in 1847, though the venture ended in bankruptcy following the revolution of 1848. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1844 and appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1849, a post he held until his death.