Adolphe Adam

French composer (1803–1856)

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Lived 1803–1856, aged 53France

France MusiciansSinger / Musician

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Era
1803–1856
Aged 53
Awards
2
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

A French composer who gave the world "O Holy Night" and the ballet Giselle, then lost everything trying to run his own opera house.

Biography

About

Adolphe Charles Adam was born 24 July 1803, son of a well-known composer and pianist who didn't want him in music. He defied his father and became a prolific theatre composer, creating the ballet Giselle in 1841, the opera Le postillon de Lonjumeau in 1836, and in 1847 the Christmas carol "Minuit, chrétiens!" — known in English as "O Holy Night". His operas and ballets earned him a good living until 1848, when a disastrous bid to open a new Paris opera house in competition with the Opéra and Opéra-Comique wiped him out. He recovered by turning to journalism and teaching, eventually appointed p…

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Griseldis
2025
Orfa
2023
Giselle (Arr. Büsser)
2021
Giselle & Le Cid - Ballet Music
2020
Si j'étais roi (Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire feat. conductor: Richard Blareau)
2004
Swan Lake (excerpts) / Giselle / Les Patineurs (Suite) (Philadelphia Orchestra feat. conductor: Eugene Ormandy)
2003
La Filleule des fées
2002
La Jolie Fille de Gand
2000
Le Toréador
1998
Im Herzen der Klassik 42: Adam - Giselle & Delibes - Coppelia / Sylvia
1997