ADAMO de la HALLE. - French trouvère, b. near Arras in 1220, d. at Naples in 1287, also called le boste d'Arras.
Destined for the priesthood, he married, then abandoned his wife and native city, and resumed his studies. He followed Count Roberto II d'Arras to the court of Carlo d'Angiò. Of his poetic works, the best known is Le Jeu de la feuillée (c. 1262), or Jeu d'Adam, or Jeu du mariage, which is the earliest French vernacular comedy. In two extensive scenes, divided by a féerie, the trouvère sets forth his own affairs and ridicules various inhabitants of Arras, women, medicines, relics, friars, and ecclesiastical customs. At the court of Naples, A. composed, set to music, and performed in 1283 Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion, which is the first pastoral comedy and, it might be said, the first comic opera. Le Jeu du pèlerin is also attributed to him, perhaps erroneously.