The composer Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856) is known all over the world for the famous Christmas anthem 'Minuit chretiens' ('O Holy Night'). However, he wrote much more than just this. His ballet Giselle (1841) is the quintessence of mystical Romanticism and one of the most enduring works of the dance repertoire. Adam composed a series of ballets, principally for the Paris Opera, establishing this genre as a serious and integral musical form. His last work was Le Corsaire (1856) which reaches sublime heights. However, Adam was just as famous as a composer for the lyric stage. With...
The composer Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856) is known all over the world for the famous Christmas anthem 'Minuit chretiens' ('O Holy Night'). However...
The composer Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856) is particularly famous for the Christmas anthem 'Minuit chretiens' ('O Holy Night'). He was renowned as a composer for the lyric stage. With Boieldieu, Herold and Auber, Adam forms one of the quartet of masters that represent the second school of that profoundly French genre of opera-comique, producing the charming Le Chalet (1834) and the adorable and enduringly popular Le Postillon de Lonjumeau (1836). However, Adam's greatest originality and most substantial achievement lay in the field of ballet. Giselle (1841) is the quintessence of mystical...
The composer Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856) is particularly famous for the Christmas anthem 'Minuit chretiens' ('O Holy Night'). He was renowned as ...
In his lifetime, the opera composer Fromental Halevy was considered the leader of the French school; his admirers included Wagner, Berlioz, and later Mahler. Today, he is chiefly remembered for his grand tragic opera La Juive (1835). Halevy, a native of Paris, was active when the French capital was at the centre of the operatic world. His 30 operas worked within established genres of grand opera and opera-comique, and many of them attained considerable popularity across Europe and the wider world (such as La Reine de Chypre 1841, Charles VI 1843, Les Mousquetaires de la reine 1846, and Le Val...
In his lifetime, the opera composer Fromental Halevy was considered the leader of the French school; his admirers included Wagner, Berlioz, and later ...
In his lifetime, the opera composer Fromental Halevy was considered the leader of the French school; his admirers included Wagner, Berlioz, and later Mahler. Today, he is chiefly remembered for his grand tragic opera La Juive (Paris, 1835), a unique work exploring the nature of freedom, faith, and tolerance. It has enjoyed rediscovery in recent times, and its perennial challenge to our presuppositions makes it a work of intense artistic significance. Halevy worked in the heady context of Paris after the 1830 Revolution and before the debacle of 1870-when the French capital was at the centre...
In his lifetime, the opera composer Fromental Halevy was considered the leader of the French school; his admirers included Wagner, Berlioz, and later ...
