Rostan, Edmond

Grandson of Alexis-Joseph Rostan ( fr. Alexis-Joseph Rostand ), Mayor of Marseille in 1830-1832. Born April 1, 1868 in Marseille (France). Childhood passed in Marseille.

“Representatives of the local intelligentsia often gathered in the hospitable house of the parents of the future poet. There were then famous poets Mistral and Obanel, who dreamed of a revival of the ancient Provencal culture. Disputes about the literature of Provence constantly flared up in the house. ”

- Al-Ndr Mikhailov .
Dramaturgy by Edmond Rostan

After the family moved to Paris, they were sent to study at the college of St. Stanislav as a lawyer. But already in college, Edmond Rostand, fond of the plays of Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset , decided to become a playwright.

“After graduating from college, Rostand remained in Paris. The well-being of the family allowed him to lead a secular dandy, attend literary salons and art exhibitions, and devote himself entirely to literature. [...] At the time of his first literary successes, Rostand met the young poetess Rosemond Gerard, a somewhat exalted and romantically inclined beauty who became his wife. From now on, Rosemond took part in all the creative affairs of Rostan, her captivating features can be distinguished in the heroines of his works, he devoted his play “Princess Dreams” to her. Rosemond became his muse, the inspirer of his books, their first partisan judge. [...] Edmond and Rosemond exchanged passionate love messages, readily read them in salons, and wrote them in friends' albums. Here, much was from the pose, much was a tribute to fashion or the desire for popularity. But, undoubtedly, the poet was sincere in his poems addressed to his wife, because sincerity in love was highly valued by him, and he endowed all his heroes with it. ”

- Al-Ndr Mikhailov .
Dramaturgy by Edmond Rostan

The first real success came to Edmond Rostand in 1894 after the production of his comedy “Romantics” on the stage of the Parisian theater “ Comedy Francaise ”. The Rostan production of the play “Cyrano de Bergerac” in December 1897 brought even greater fame and money.

Edmond Rostand “settled in a luxurious mansion in the center of Paris, arranged home concerts and social receptions, collected works of art, traveled, built a villa in the Pyrenees ( Villa Arnaga ). He became a fashionable celebrity. ” (A. Mikhailov, “The dramaturgy of Edmond Rostan”).

In 1901, Edmond Rostand was elected to the French Academy .

He died on December 2, 1918 in Paris from the Spanish flu during a pandemic of the disease.

His son Jean Rostand became a famous biologist.

• Eaglet (1900). Drama, 6 acts.
• Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). Heroic comedy, 5 acts.
• Chauntecleer ( Singer of the Dawn ) (1904). Drama, 4 acts.
• Samaritan woman (1894). A play on the biblical story, 3 acts.
• The Red Glove (1888). Vaudeville.
• Musical pranks (1890). Poetry.
• Ode to music (1890). Poetry.
• Two Pierrot, or White Dinner (1890). “Comedy in verse for raising the curtain”, 1 act.
• Romantics (1894). Comedy, 3 acts.
• The Last Night of Don Giovanni (1911). Play.
• Flight of the Marseillaise (1915). Poems about the war.
• Princess Dreams (1895). 4 acts.

On the basis of the comedy "Romance" in 1960, the off-Broadway musical " Fantastic " was staged in the USA ^[1] .

At least nine films were staged in the play “Cyrano de Bergerac” in the 20th century, and two films in the 21st century.

Among his works in Russia, the dramas “ Princess Dream ” (“La Princesse lointaine”) and “ Cyrano de Bergerac ” (“Cyrano de Bergerac”), both translated by Tatyana Schepkina-Kupernik, are especially famous. It should be noted that the writer was often given opposite assessments. So, “Princess Greuza” provoked, on the one hand, a sharp rebuke from Konstantin Stanislavsky : “I saw a lot in the world, but I didn’t have to see such an abomination” ^[2] , and on the other hand, M. Gorky’s enthusiastic response. Gorky praised the heroic comedy “Cyrano de Bergerac” in an article in 1900 specifically dedicated to this work, which provides an explanation of the concept and title of his play “ Children of the Sun ” ^[3] . In a letter to A. P. Chekhov, Gorky noted: “This is how to live - like Cyrano” ^[4] .

In 1896, S. Yu. Witte commissioned Mikhail Vrubel for the painting “ Princess Daydream ”, which is currently on display in the Vrubel hall in the Tretyakov Gallery . In 1900, the lyric opera "Princess Dream" was staged by Yu. I. Bleikhman .

In 1914, the complete works of Rostan were published in Russia; subsequently, most of the plays were not reprinted in Russian.

• Zaborov P.R. Edmond Rostan Theater in Russia // At the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries: From the History of International Relations of Russian Literature. - L. , 1991 .-- S. 215—252.
• Lukov Vl. A. Edmond Rostan. - Samara, 2003.
• Lukov Vl. A. Theoretical interpretation of neo-romanticism: academic speech of Rostan // Knowledge. Understanding. Skill . - 2009. - No. 3 ( archived in WebCite ) . - S. 111-118 .
• Lunacharsky A.V. Cyrano the first and Cyrano the second // Lunacharsky A.V. Sobr. cit .: In 8 vols .-- M. , 1965. - Vol. 6. - S. 433-436.
• Mikhailov A.D. Dramaturgy of Edmond Rostan // Rostan E. Plays. - M. , 1983.

• Edmond Rostan at the Maxim Moshkov Library
• Lukov Vl. A. Parody of Shakespeare: The Romantics of E. Rostand and Romeo and Juliet (Neopr.) . Electronic Encyclopedia "Shakespeare's World" (2009). Date of treatment March 16, 2018. Archived March 16, 2018.
• Lukov Vl. A. Rostan Edmond (Neopr.) . Electronic Encyclopedia "Modern French Literature". Date of treatment March 16, 2018. Archived March 16, 2018.
• Rostan Edmond: publications and literature about him (neopr.) . Electronic Encyclopedia "Modern French Literature". Date of treatment March 16, 2018. Archived March 16, 2018.