FIRST PRINTING

EDMOND ROSTAND

Edmond Rostand was born on May I, 1868, in Marseille to wealthy, literary-minded parents. His father, an avid essayist, versifier, and translator of Catullus, instilled in young Edmond what would be a lifetime devotion to such literary masters as Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Victor Hugo. Indeed, although Rostand lived well into the beginning of the modern age, many scholars contend that he carried on the romantic tradition of Hugo and other writers.

Edmond completed his secondary education at the College Stanislas in Paris, where he showed his considerable literary talent, then studied law, which he never practiced. While hiking in the Pyrenees in 1888 he met his future wife, Rosemonde Gerard, an aspiring poet of moderate success. Rosemonde’s family helped Rostand’s early career immensely: He wrote his first play, a four-act vaudeville-style piece called Le Gant rouge (The Red Glove), with her half-brother, William Lee, and published his well-received first collection of verse, Les Musardises, with the help of Gerard’s godfather, the poet Leconte de Lisle.

Cyrano de Bergerac premiered to a rapturous reception in 1897 and remains one of the great classics of nineteenth-century France. The flamboyant character Cyrano, rural hero and national champion, was a charismatic representative of the grandeur of France and helped a wounded nation recover from defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, and a series of political and military scandals that included the Dreyfus Affair. Rostand achieved success with other notable productions—including La Princesse lointaine (The Faraway Princess) and La Samaritaine (The Woman of Samaria), both with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt in the leading role—but Cyrano remains the work for which Rostand is known. He spent most of his last twenty years in near-retirement at his home in the Pyrenees and died of Spanish flu in 1918 .

The World of Edmond Rostand and

CYRANO DE BERGERAC

1619 Savinien de Cyrano, the real Cyrano de Bergerac, is born in Paris.

1640 While fighting for France in the Thirty Years War, de Bergerac receives a stab wound to the throat during the siege of the town of Arras in northern France and leaves the military.

1641 Cyrano begins studying at the College de Lisieux under the philosopher Pierre Gassendi, known for his libertine views.

1654 Two of Cyrano’s plays, La Mort d‘Agrippine (The Death ofAgrippine) and Le Pédant joué (The Pedant Imitated), are published.

1655 Cyrano dies on July 28, possibly of injuries sustained when a scrap of wood falls from a building and strikes him on the head (some believe the accident was planned) or from complications of a venereal disease.

1657 Cyrano’s Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon) appears posthumously . In this and a companion volume, Histoire comique des états et empires de la soleil (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Sun), published in 1662, he satirizes contemporary socety and the prevailing belief that Earth is the center of the universe.

1858 Cyrano’s works are published for the first time since the seventeenth century.

1868 Edmond Rostand is born into a well-off family in Marseille on May 1.

1872 De Bergerac’s tragedy Le Mort d’ Agrippine is revived for one performance in Paris.

1878 Rostand begins his studies at the lycee of Marseille.

1884 The Rostands move to Paris, and Edmond continues his studies at the College Stanislas. Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, and Theodore de Banville are his literary heroes.

1887 The Académie de Marseille gives Rostand top honors for his entry in the essay contest “Deux romanciers de Provence: Honoré d‘Urfé et Emile Zola” (“Two Provencal Romantic Writers: Honoré d’ Urfé and Emile Zola”).

1888 While on vacation in the Pyrenees, Rostand meets aspiring poet Rosemonde Gerard, goddaughter of the poet Leconte de Lisle, and falls in love.

1889 The Eiffel Tower is completed. Rostand’s first play, a four-act, vaudeville-style piece called Le Gant rouge (The Red Glove), written with Gérard’s half-brother, William Lee, premiers without success.

1890 Rostand and Gerard marry. Gerard helps Rostand publish his first collection of verse, Les Musardises, to critical praise.

1892 The Comédie-Française accepts Rostand’s Les Romanesques (The Romancers), Rostand’s first full-length play.

1894 Les Romanesques premiers at the Comédie-Française. An innocent Jewish army officer named Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of leaking French military secrets to Germany, beginning the disastrous Dreyfus Affair, which deeply divides France.

1895 Sarah Bernhardt stars in the premiere of La Princesse lointaine (The Faraway Princess), which Rostand wrote with the star in mind, but it closes before finishing its 35-performance contract . Bernhardt introduces Rostand to well-known