Ballet Composer Profile: Adolphe Adam | Part 2
“I hardly have any other ambition, in my theatre music, than to make it clear, easy to understand, and amusing for the audience.”
Ballet Scores continued… Read Part 1 here!
La Jolie Fille de Gand (1842)
Le Jolie Fille de Gand translates in English to ‘The Pretty Girl of Ghent’, and is a ballet-pantomime in three acts. The production was choreographed by François-Ferdinand Decombé, known professionally as Albert, who also co-created the libretto alongside Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. The ballet received its premiere on the 22nd June, 1842, at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique in Paris.
Le Diable à Quatre (1845)
Translating to ‘The Devil at Four’, this ballet-pantomime is also in two acts. With libretto by Adolphe de Lueven and choreography by Joesph Mazilier, the production was premiered on the 11th August, 1845, at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique in Paris. Dancers Carlotta Grisi (as Mazourka) and Lucien Petipa (as Count Polinski) starred in the ballet’s title roles.
Griseldis: Les Cinq Sens (1848)
Griseldis: The Five Senses was a ballet-pantomime in three acts, also choreographed Joseph Mazilier, and with libretto by Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir. It was premiered on the 16th February, 1848, at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique in Paris.
La Filleule des Fées (1849)
The title of this three act ballet is translated to mean The Goddaughter of the Fairies, and is known as a ballet-féerie, which means a ballet-fairyland. The libretto was co-created by the choreographer, Jules Perrot, and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. The music was also a collaboration between Adolphe Adam and Alfred de Clémenceau de Saint-Julien, who assisted in writing the prologue and apotheosis (climax). It was premiered on the 8th October, 1849 at the Théâtre de l’Opéra in Paris.
Orfa (1852)
With libretto by both Henri Trianon and François-Hippolyte Levroy, this ballet-pantomime (in two acts), was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier, and was premiered on the 29th December, 1852 at the Théâtre de l’Académie Impériale de Musique in Paris.
Le Corsaire (1856)
Next to Giselle, Le Corsaire (The Pirate), is Adolphe Adam’s second most famous ballet. The libretto, written by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, was inspired by The Corsair, a long tale in the form of a poem, by Lord Byron. This particular ‘story in verse’ was 180 pages long and extremely popular during its time being used as inspiration for music and opera, as well as ballet.
Originally this ballet-pantomime in three acts was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier. However, modern productions are almost always assumed from the re-choreographed Le Corsaire revivals by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet of St Petersburg, the first being performed in 1858.
Therefore, similar to the case of Giselle, there are parts of the score from Le Corsaire which were not composed by Adolphe Adam. Overtime, within different revivals and restagings of the ballet, sections of the music have been re-written and replaced. For example, the music that accompanies the famous Le Corsaire Pas de Deux was actually written by Riccardo Drigo, not Adam. And, during the creation of Petipa’s 1863 revival, it was Cesare Pugni who was commissioned to provide a revised score. Then, in Petipa’s 1867 revival Léo Delibes (former pupil of Adam, and subsequent ballet composer for Sylvia and Coppelia) was commissioned to compose new music for the Pas des Fleurs, especially for the the dancer Adèle Grantzow, who was playing the leading role of Medora. In 1868, Grantzow left Paris, and as a result Le Corsaire was “removed from the Opéra's repertory, never to be performed by the Parisian ballet again". Nevertheless, the ballet retained its popularity in Russia, with many revivals over the year that often continued to adjust Adam’s original score, and make replacements to the music.
It can seem a little as though few had any respect for Adam’s music, easily replacing it with to suit their vision. But in many ways, it shows the transformative nature of dance and ballet. The fascinating development of one piece of work that has been passed through the hands of many, as the decades have slipped by. And since Adolphe Adam passed away on the 3rd of May 1856. only four months after Le Corsaire’s premiere (on the 23rd January 1856 at the Théâtre Impérial de l’Opéra in Paris), he was not able to make these changes himself.
Of course, we can look at many other successful ballet scores by Tchaikovsky, or Prokofiev, and see that they do not go through the same transformation. More often than not, they are retained in their original form, and it is only the choreography that is re-worked around them. Perhaps, they are held in higher esteem than Adam’s work? Perhaps in their case the music is a larger part of the ballets’ fame, that it is for Giselle or Le Corsaire? As harsh as it sounds, it could very well be the case…
