Talk:Adolphe Adam

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There are quite a few references on the web that refer to him being Jewish, including this page that claims his song was shunned after the church discovered he was Jewish [1]. Arniep 20:05, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

I am afraid this is just legend, probably based on the fact that his name was Adam and some wishful thinking by over-enthusiastic Jewish 'musicologists'. Similar fables, on a similar basis, can be found about Max Bruch, Maurice Ravel, Daniel Auber, Cornelie Falcon (who created the role of 'La Juive') etc. etc. When you go back to the sources, none of these are true - and I have checked out Adam already. I wish he was Jewish of course as it would be grist to the mill of my thesis! I will check again when I am mobile enough to get to the British Library once more, but at the moment I think this must remain, at very best, an unsupported attribution. Given the nature of the debate on who is categorised as what, I should at least stick to my own conditions as expressed!
it looks like he wrote an autobiography "Souvenirs d’un musicien, par Adolphe Adam ... Précédés de notes biographiques écrites par lui-même. (Nouvelle édition.).", pp. liv. 266. Paris, 1901. (earlier version 1877), and a book published in 1987 "Adolphe Adam and Léo Delibes : a guide to research / William E. Studwell." . Arniep 20:35, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
don't know the Studwell book, I will check it at LUL and report back - won't be for 2 or 3 weeks though as I am presently in plaster - Smerus 21:56, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
For what it's worth, the website Jewhoo (their database is now down) listed Adam and said he was Jewish. They were the only correct Jewish-listing website and I would assume they did their research beyond just a "legend", but who knows. Their article about Jewish Christmas-song composers is still online, though [2], it says: "Another visitor went a little outside the contest bounds and told us that one of the most popular traditional Christmas carols, “O Holy Night”, was composed by a Jewish composer. We did a little checking and sure enough, she was right. In fact, it is generally ranked as the second most popular traditional carol. The Chicago Tribune, a few years back, commented on its popularity in light of the background of its composer and lyricist.

“Intriguing, then, that its Parisian composer, Adolphe Adam, was Jewish, and that its lyricist, Placide Cappeau of the village of Roquemaure, repudiated Christianity and embraced free thought late in life. Studwell said these incongruities appear to have been why "O Holy Night" temporarily fell out of favor in churches in some regions in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.” "Vulturell 05:04, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

This is all gossip, not evidence. The only way to check these things out is to investigate who Adam's parents were; a secondary check would be to see if he had any Jewish contacts or associates, who recognised him as a Jew. I have seen similar comments about Jewishness made for many others. When you look at the parents it all falls apart. I have seen for example a whole example in a learned magazine about Daniel Auber as a Jew. In fact he was the son of a washerwoman and an army lieutenant in Caen, to neither of whom can be attributed a smidgin of Jewishness.

My preliminary research at home shows that Adam's father was Jean-Louis Adam, born in the Rhineland provinces of France about 1748. As this was the only part of France where Jews were allowed to live before the Revolution, his putative Jewishness is compatible with his being born there (although of course Christians were far more numerous). Arguing against Jean-Louis's Jewishness however is the fact that he was a skilled keyboard player and a music teacher. If this is so, he was the only Jew who undertook these professions in the French territories before about 1810. Alsatian Jews did not have access to any training for musique savante before they were enable to attend the Paris Conservatoire in the 1790s. There seems to be no comment about Adam's Jewishness from his Jewish contemporaries, even those who gossiped extensively like Ferdinand Hiller, and nothing in Leon Halevy's biography of his brother Fromental (a contemporary of Adam at the Conservatoire), which manetions his various Jewish contacts in his youth. Unlike (for example) his contemporaries Halevy and Alkan, he is not mentioned in records (which I have researched)of the Paris Consistoire (the Jewish central organisation of Paris) and, also unlike them, there is no record of his contact of any sort with the synagogue.

I will await new evidence, or if necessary my chance to consult contemporary information and sources, such as Fetis, before I comment further. In the meantime Adam remains at best un cas discutable. - Smerus 09:38, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Surely, Studwell who wrote the book on Adam and Delibes (mentioned above) would have not included the information on Adam being Jewish if it was not backed up by any reliable sources? Arniep 18:25, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
if he gives sources I will evaluate them or check them. It is not clear from what has been posted whether Studwell (whoever he is) is passing on a rumour or endorsing it. And not everything you read in books, even supposedly scholarly books, is always true! - as I have had frequent occasion to find out over recent years - Smerus 19:36, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
For the record, "Studwell" is one of the great surnames. Vulturell 00:05, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I have now spoken to Prof Studwell (recently retired from Northern Illinois University). He had seen Adam referenced as Jewish in a nineteenth-century source but can't remember which. This is not conclusive by my standards. Further research in my references at home show that Adam is not listed as Jewish by Idelsohn, Gradenwitz or Sendrey (the leading bibliographer of Jewish musicians). The Jewish outlook for Adam therefore seems to be bleak at present but I will keep researching and post updates. - Smerus 16:00, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

It seems that Adam was not good enough a Jew for the Nazis, either. The Nazi dictionary of 'Juden in der Musik ', published 1941, is pretty comprehensive in listing anyone in the world of music who had the slightest Jewish connection (and includes many who had not, so it it is no work of scholarship). However Adolphe Adam does not figure there..... - Smerus 16:44, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

What the heck does "The Jewish outlook for Adam therefore seems to be bleak" mean?? I removed the whole section about this from the article as unsourced commentary or OR, take your pick. Thanks --Tom 14:36, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

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