Adolphe Adam

Adolphe Adam (1803 to 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic who wrote prolifically for the theatre. He is best remembered for the ballets Giselle (1841) and Le corsaire (1856), the operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau (1836) and Si j'etais roi (1852), and the Christmas carol Minuit, chretiens!, known in English as O Holy Night. Born in Paris the son of the composer and pianist Louis Adam, he defied his father's wish that he avoid a musical career, studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Boieldieu, and made a good living from operas and ballets until a failed 1848 venture to open a new opera house cost him his money. He recovered through journalism and teaching and became a professor at the Conservatoire. With Daniel Auber and Boieldieu he is credited with creating the later Romantic French form of opera.