Cyrano de Bergerac

by Edmond Rostand

MUSIC

  Cyrano de Bergerac has been transliterated into many musical forms—from Dutch composer JohanWagenaar’s fourteen-minute Overture to Cyrano de Bergerac, Opus 23 (1905), to Estonian composer Eino Tamberg’s opera (1974) called, not surprisingly, Cyrano de Bergerac. In fact, in 1899, just two years after Rostand’s play opened in France, Victor Herbert’s comic operetta Cyrano de Bergerac premiered on Broadway. The three-act work, with a book by Stuart Reed, portrays the nasally endowed hero as particularly boastful, playing up Cyrano’s roosterly theatricality.

  American composer Walter Damrosch wrote an opera, Cyrano, in 1913, and Italian composer Franco Alfano also brought the story into the opera house, with his 1936 Cyrano de Bergerac, in which the soft, spare, intricate music is reminiscent of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, and in which Cyrano, a tenor, proffers a memorable, whispered serenade to his cousin Roxane in a balcony scene.

  In 1971 Anthony Burgess, author of the novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), translated Cyrano into book and lyrics, composed incidental music, and created a wholly original musical. This acclaimed production led to a Broadway version starring Christopher Plummer, with new music composed by Michael J. Lewis. Cyrano de Bergerac, in two acts, opened on Broadway on May 13, 1973, and lasted for forty-nine performances.

  FILM

  Cyrano has been filmed a number of times. The screen versions include a silent production in 1925 starring Pierre Magnier and Michael Gordon’s 1950 version starring José Ferrer, for which the latter received an Oscar. (Orson Wells was apparently interested in making a version of it but abandoned the project in 1947.) But it was 1987’s Roxanne, starring Steve Martin, that brought Cyrano to life for contemporary audiences. Directed by Fred Schepisi (Six Degrees of Separation) and adapted by Martin, Roxanne is a latter-day retelling of Cyrano that sparkles with all of Rostand’s rapier wit and florid romance while remaining faithful to the core of Rostand’s play.

  Hot on the heels of audiences’ love for Roxanne, the French reclaimed a national treasure with Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), starring Gerard Depardieu. Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Cyrano de Bergerac is a lavish seventeenth-century costume epic and one of the most expensive productions in the history of French cinema. The script as adapted by Rappeneau and Jean-Claude Carriére strives to maintain Rostand’s original verse, and the international version is subtitled with Anthony Burgess’s droll rhymes.

  COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

  In this section, we aim to provide the reader with an array of perspectives on the text, as well as questions that challenge those perspectives. The commentary has been culled from sources as diverse as reviews contemporaneous with the work, letters written by the author, literary criticism of later generations, and appreciations written throughout the work’s history. Following the commentary a series of questions seeks to filter Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac through a variety of points of view and bring about a richer understanding of this enduring work.

  COMMENTS

  Gertrude Hall

  Cyrano is so comprehensible! To Cyrano the world he lives in must be filled with striking generous deeds and sounding generous phrases. The world is slow in performing the first, so he performs them himself. Then, the care of exalting them cannot be left with the world, afflicted with dullness as with slowness, so he talks about them. I am sure Cyrano cares very little that himself should be in question. He merely wishes fine deeds and fine sentiments to be, and to make surest and shortest work, furnishes them himself. It is very innocent.

  On the other hand, I fancy it impossible to follow the whole play and not get the contagion of Cyrano’s generosity.... When that night he entered God’s house, and, in saluting, broadly swept the azure threshold with his very clean plume, what eloquent and touching tirade must he have made to Gascony Cadets in bliss, at the sure vision of his fighting not having been in vain, of his having inspired others—(remote audiences in America, among them)—to detest and fight the ancient enemies that were his: Lies, Compromises, Prejudices, base Expedients,—the whole multitude of things ugly and petty!

  —from her Introduction to Cyrano de Bergerac (1910 )

  T. S. Eliot

  In plays of realism we often find parts which are never allowed to be consciously dramatic, for fear, perhaps, of their appearing less real. But in actual life, in many of those situations in actual life which we enjoy consciously and keenly, we are at times aware of ourselves in this way, and these moments are of very great usefulness to dramatic verse. A very small part of acting is that which takes place on the stage! Rostand had—whether he had anything else or not—this dramatic sense, and it is what gives life to Cyrano. It is a sense which is almost a sense of humour (for when anyone is conscious of himself as acting, something like a sense of humour is present). It gives Rostand’s characters—Cyrano at least—a gusto which is uncommon on the modern stage. No doubt Rostand’s people play up to this too steadily. We recognize that in the love scenes of Cyrano in the garden, for in Romeo and Juliet the profounder dramatist shows his lovers melting into incoherent unconsciousness of their isolated selves, shows the human soul in the process of forgetting itself. Rostand could not do that; but in the particular case of Cyrano on Noses, the character, the situation, the occasion were perfectly suited and combined. The tirade generated by this combination is not only genuinely and highly dramatic: it is possibly poetry also. If a writer is incapable of composing such a scene as this, so much the worse for his poetic drama.

  Cyrano satisfies, as far as scenes like this can satisfy, the requirements of poetic drama. It must take genuine and substantial human emotions, such emotions as observation can confirm, typical emotions, and give them artistic form; the degree of abstraction is a question for the method of each author. In Shakespeare the form is determined in the unity of the whole, as well as single scenes; it is something to attain this unity, as Rostand does, in scenes if not the whole play.

  —from The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920)

  The Nation

  Rostand is preeminently a poet of sentiment. He has fancy rather than imagination; delicacy and charm rather than passion. He belongs to that great band of lesser French geniuses, such as Charles d’ Orleans, Du Bellay, Voiture, and, among the moderns, Banville, Coppee, and Régnier—the poets of a silver rather than golden Latinity. For him sunlight and shadow flit across the earth’s rough surface, and the playful, optimistic mood of the poet is admirably attuned to express them.

  On the other hand, what Rostand lacks in originality and depth of thought he possesses in brilliancy and mastery of style. Except for Cyrano, he can scarcely be said to have created a real character; but he can spin a dramatic situation out of a mere physical or moral detail, he can lift his audiences out of themselves by a succession of scintillating images, and in one respect his style is a continuous creation—namely, in the “cliquetis des mots” or the humorous portrayal of moods through the mere clash and jingle of words.

  —May 17, 1922

  QUESTIONS

  1. In literature, improbabilities (such as Polyphemous, the one-eyed giant in the Odyssey) often serve as metaphors or allegories for something metaphysical or psychological or moral. What are the improbabilities in Cyrano—certainly the character’s nose is one—and do you think they work? Why? And what purpose do they serve?

  2. One often hears of great men and women whose accomplishments seem to be compensations for some lack or defect: a failed father, an unloving mother, short stature, poverty. Cyrano’s panache is his great achievement. Do you think he has developed this quality in compensation for his unattractive nose? If so, what sort of clues does the play provide?

  3. What can be made of the friendship between Christian and Cyrano? Without the goal of wooing Roxane, would they be friends at all? Are they alter egos—that is, is there any Christian in Cyrano or Cyrano in Christian?

  4. Is Roxane worth the fuss made over her? Is she a heroic character in any way?

  5. Would it be pos
sible for a man like Cyrano to exist and flourish today—with his panache intact? What are some of the things he might set out to do in today’s world?

  FOR FURTHER READING

  OTHER WORKS BY EDMOND ROSTAND

  Le Gant rouge (The Red Glove), 1889

  Les Romanesques (The Romancers), 1894

  L’Aiglon (The Eaglet), 1900

  Chantecler (1910)

  La Dernière Nuit de Don Juan (The Last Night of Don Juan), published posthumously in 1921

  WORKS BY THE HISTORICAL

  CYRANO DE BERGERAC

  La Mort d’Agrippine (The Death of Agrippine), 1654

  Le Pédant joué (The Pedant Imitated), 1654

  Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon), 1657.

  Histoire comique des états et empires du soleil (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon), 1662

  ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF

  CYRANO DE BERGERAC

  Translated by Lowell Bair. New York: New American Library, 1972. With an afterword by Henry Hewes. Excellent unrhymed translation; commentary in the afterword on various stage productions and translations of Cyrano into English.

  Translated by Anthony Burgess. New York: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 1998. This version by the British novelist was used by Derek Jacobi for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Cyrano in 1983, as well as for the subtitles in Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s French film version.

  Translated by Christopher Fry. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Introduction and notes by Nicholas Cronk. A rhyming—more precisely, “chiming”—verse translation. The excellent introduction places Rostand in his literary and historical context.

  Translated by Brian Hooker. New York: Bantam Classics, 1981. Good verse translation made at the request of American Shakespearean Richard Mansfield; used on stage and in film by such fabled Cyranos as Walter Hampden and José Ferrer.

  Translated by Edwin Morgan. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1992. A verse translation into the native Glaswegian of this talented Scots poet; a tour de force.

  Translated by Louis Untermeyer. 1954. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2000. Blank verse translation.

  FRENCH EDITIONS OF

  CYRANO DE BERGERAC

  Edited by Claude Aziza. Edition revue et augmentée. Paris: Pocket, 1998. Includes a “Dossier Historique et Littéraire” with contemporary reviews of Cyrano as well as analyses of the work’s structure, characters, etc.

  Edited by Patrick Besnier. Paris: Gallimard, 1999. Includes a chronology, well-chosen critical materials, and a fine introduction by Besnier.

  Edited by Pierre Citti. Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990. Contains excellent notes and a preface. Le Bret’s Life of Cyrano is included in the Annexes.

  Edited by Patrice Pavis. Paris: Classiques Larousse, 2000. Designed for use by French students, this edition contains many useful lexical and historical footnotes.

  Edited by Jacques Truchet. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1983. The definitive edition of Cyrano, exhaustively researched, contains a wealth of material relating to the play’s composition as well as extensive historical information on the historical Cyrano.

  CRITICISM IN ENGLISH

  Outside of scholarly journals, there is not a great deal of literature in English about Edmond Rostand and Cyrano. The play is discussed in the following works:

  Amoia, Alba della Fazia. Edmond Rostand. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978.

  Eliot, T. S. “‘Rhetoric’ and Poetic Drama.” In Selected Essays. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1950.

  CRITICISM IN FRENCH

  Much more is available in French. Readers may consult the following: Andry, Marc. Edmond Rostand: Le Panache et la gloire. Paris: Plon, 1986.

  De Margerie, Caroline. Edmond Rostand; ou, Le baiser de la gloire. Paris: B. Grasset, 1997. The most thorough biography to date.

  Garcia, Carole, and Roland Dargeles. Edmond Rostand: Panache et Tourments. Paris: Editions Jean Curutchet, 1997.

  Gerard, Rosemonde. Edmond Rostand. Paris: Fasquelle, 1935. Memoirs of Rostand’s wife, including of the opening night of Cyrano.

  Ripert, Emile. Edmond Rostand. Paris: Hachette, 1968.

  1 The oldest stage in Paris, built in 1548 in the former palace of the Dukes of Burgundy.

  2 Pastoral play by Balthazar Baro (1585-1650), staged at the Hotel de Bourgogne in I63I .

  3 Heavy drinker.

  4 Jean de Routrou (1609-1650) and Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), playwrights and great rivals; Corneille is considered to have written some of the greatest tragedies in the French language, including Le Cid.

  5 All famous actors at the Hotel de Bourgogne.

  6 Important social figures who personified a style of behavior known as “preciosity” that emphasized delicacy and refinement.

  7 L’Académie française, the body of distinguished French writers created by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635.

  8 Names of members of l’Académie française.

  9 Typically precious names taken from Antoine Baudeau de Somaize’s Dictionnaire des Précieuses (1660). ‡Poet and friend of Cyrano de Bergerac, whose writings he edited; D’ Assoucy’s real name was Charles Coypeau (1605-1677).

  10 Sweet wine made in the Pyrenees. first century B.C. minister under Roman emperor Augustus and great patron and protector of men of letters, especially of Horace and Virgil. ‡Poem of eight lines.

  11 A character in the play La Clorise (see note on p. 7), whose name recalls Phaedo, Plato’s discourse on the immortality of the soul.

  12 Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674), painter of great political figures (he painted Cardinal Richelieu) and religious scenes.

  13 Jacques Callot (1592-1635), an engraver famous for the accuracy of his works as well as for a series of masques representing traditional characters of the Italian form of comedy known as commedia dell’arte. ‡The reference is to a historical character in Cléopâtre (1647), a play by Gautier des Costes, sieur de La Calprenède (1609-1663).

  14 Reference to the famous cordon bleu, the insignia of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit, France’s oldest chivalric order.

  15 The French, at war with the Spanish since 1622, were campaigning to retake Flanders from their control.

  16 Reference to Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), powerful prime minister of France who sometimes attended the theater incognito.

  17 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, nobility (usually minor nobility) often sat on the stage, at its sides.

  18 That is, full moon; a reference to Montfleury’s famous rotundity.

  19 The personnel of a seventeenth-century theater included a guard charged with keeping order.

  20 Final stanza of a ballad.

  21 Name of an ill-bred dog in a fable (book VIII, fable 24) by the French poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621—1695).

  22 One of the heroes of Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers.

  23 Thus passes worldly glory (Latin).

  24 In Greek mythology, a satyr-like creature and follower of Dionysus, the wine god.

  25 Reference to Pierre Corneille’s Tite et Bérénice (1670), the story of Titus, who succeeded his father Vespasian as Roman emperor from A.D. 79-81.

  26 A sort of governess or chaperone, often advanced in years, responsible for overseeing the conduct of a young woman.

  27 Humorous formation based on the Latin turdus (meaning “thrush”) and vinaticus (suggesting “drunk”).

  28 Sweet Italian liqueur made of roses and orange flowers.

  29 Literally, “having a pointed nose” (Italian); nickname of the Roman family Scipio.

  30 The caesura is the natural pause in a line of poetry; hemistich is the term for each of the two equal halves of the line.

  31 François Malherbe, French poet (1555-1628) whose theoretical writings contributed much to French classicism.

  32 In Greek myth, the poet and musician Orpheus was devoured by the Maenads, female devotees of Dionysus, the wine god; they were a
lso known as Bacchantes, after Bacchus, as the Romans called Dionysus. ‡Term of obloquy; antecedent of today’s “pissant.”

  33 Name of a silly person.

  34 Reference to Phoebus Apollo, god of the sun in Greek mythology.

  35 In this case, the reference is to Apollo as a god associated with such civilized arts as poetry and music.

  36 That is, “scorned,” but also literally “horned”: traditionally, the cuckolded husband grows horns.

  37 Isaac de Benserade (1613-1691), a precious poet.

  38 Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant (1594—1661), a poet and satirist. ‡Jean Chapelain (1595-1674), literary critic and poet.

  39 Honoré d‘Urfé (1567-1625) was author of the pastoral novel L’Astrée, in which the heroes are handsome and noble shepherds; he was the object of an early essay by Rostand.

  40 “Sandious,” along with such terms as “Mille dious!” and “Capdedious!” and “Pocapdedious!,” just below, are attempts to render the colorfully emotive language of the Gascons.

  41 District of central Paris.