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Scan 77
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
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1of a more florid character, and contains more embellishments and figured passages than the largo. For Chopin's use of the word, see Niecks's Biography, vol. i. p. 203.
3(3) It was formerly used as a general term for a slow movement. Thus in the autograph of Haydn's symphony in D (Salmon, No. 6), at the end of the first movement, we find 'Segue Adagio,' though the next movement is an Andante.
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7ADALBERT, SAINT (real name SWIENTY WOZCIECH), Bishop of Prague (b. Bohemia, c. 939; d. Fischhausen, 997), author of the hymn 'Boga-Rodziça,' published in Gerbert's De cantu, iv. 348; also Revue Music. vol. iv. p. 202, and in A. Sowinski's Les Musiciens polonais et slaves, p. 64, who gives a fuller account. See also Gerbert, i. 5, 25, 35, 373, who attributes to him also a litany in the Slavonic language, whereof he gives a Latin translation. Adalbert was murdered by the pagans at Fischhausen. His body, recovered by the Duke Boleslav of Poland, was buried at Gnesen, which in 996 had become his archbishopric.
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11ADAM, (1) JEAN LOUIS (Johann Ludwig), (b. Müttersholz, Alsace, Dec. 3, 1758; d. Paris, Apr. 8, 1818), a pianist of the first rank, appeared in Paris when only 17 as the composer of two symphonies-concertantes for the harp, piano and violin, the first of their kind, which were performed at the Concert Spirituel.
13He gained the friendship of Gluck and arranged the latter's operas for harpsichord and piano. Having acquired a reputation for teaching, in 1797 he was appointed professor at the Conservatoire, a post he retained till 1843, training many eminent pupils, of whom the most celebrated were Kalkbrenner, Hérold, father and son, Chaulieu, Henri Lemoine, and Mme. Renaud d'Allen; but there is no evidence that he taught his own more famous son, ADOLPHE CHARLES.
15His Méthode ou principe général du doigté (Paris, 1798), Méthode nouvelle pour le piano (1802), and Méthode de piano du Conservatoire (1804), were important in the development of pianoforte technique, and passed through many editions. His sonatas (harpsichord and violin, and pianoforte) are noteworthy.
17M. C. C.; addns. M. L. P.
19(2) ADOLPHE CHARLES (b. Paris, July 24, 1803; d. there, May 3, 1856), a famous French composer of opéra-comique, the son of Louis. Although thus intimately connected with the art of music the father strenuously resisted the early and strong desire of his son to follow the same calling.
21Adolphe was sent to an ordinary day-school and was refused all musical instruction, which he himself tried to supply by private studies, carried on in secret and without guidance or encouragement. At last the quiet persistence of the young man overcame the prejudices of paternal obstinacy. In 1817 he was allowed to enter the Conservatoire, but only as an amateur, and on condition of his promising solemnly never to write for the stage, an engagement naturally disregarded by him at a later period. His first master was Benoist, and his instrument the organ, on which he began to thrum little tunes of his own, soon abandoning it for the harmonium. Adam's first success indeed was due to his clever improvisations on that instrument in fashionable drawing-rooms. The only master to whom Adam owed not only an advance of his musical knowledge but to some extent the insight into his own talent, was Boieldieu. The intimacy which soon sprang up between the teacher and the taught has been pleasantly described by Adam in his posthumous little volume Derniers Souvenirs d'un musicien. It was owing to this friendship that Adam was able to connect his name with a work vastly superior to his own powers, Boieldieu's 'Dame blanche,' of which he composed or rather combined the overture. By Boieldieu's advice and example also Adam's talent was led to its most congenial sphere of action, the comic opera. His first independent attempt at dramatic composition was the 1-act operetta of 'Pierre et Catherine,' brought out at the Opéra-Comique in 1829. It was followed the next year by the 3-act opera 'Danilowa.' Both were favourably received, and, encouraged by his success, Adam began to compose a number of operatic works with a rapidity and ease of productiveness frequently fatal to his higher aspirations.
23In 1847 he started, at his own expense and responsibility, a new operatic theatre called Théâtre National, and destined to bring the works of young aspiring composers before the public. These laudable efforts were interrupted by the outbreak of the Revolution in the February of the ensuing year. The theatre had to close, Adam having sunk in the enterprise all his earnings, and having moreover incurred a considerable debt, to discharge which he henceforth, like Sir Walter Scott, considered the chief task of his life. This task he accomplished in the course of five years, during which time, besides producing several operas, he occupied himself in writing criticisms and feuilletons for the newspapers. His contributions to the Constitutionel, Assemblée Nationale, and Gazette Musicale, were much appreciated by the public. Although a critic he succeeded in making no enemies. Some of his sketches, since collected, are amusing and well though not brilliantly written. In 1844 he was elected Member of the Institute; in 1849 professor of composition at the Conservatoire. He died suddenly. His reputation during his lifetime was not limited to his own
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