Cyrano de Bergerac is a four-act opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 with music by Franco Alfano

Franco Alfano

Franco Alfano was an Italian composer and pianist. Best known today for his opera Risurrezione and above all for having completed Puccini's opera Turandot in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime.- Biography :He was born in Posillipo, Naples...

, and libretto by Henri Caïn

Henri Cain

Henri Caïn was a French dramatist, opera and ballet librettist. He wrote over forty librettos from 1893 to his death, for many of the most prominent composers of the Parisian Belle Epoque....

, based on Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand

Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...

's drama Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac (play)

Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....

. The opera received its first performance in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 on 22 January 1936, conducted by Tullio Serafin

Tullio Serafin

-Biography:Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19th century bel canto operas by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti to become staples of 20th century repertoire...

, with Maria Caniglia

Maria Caniglia

Maria Caniglia was one of the leading Italian dramatic sopranos of the 1930s and 1940s.- Life and career :...

 and José Luccioni

José Luccioni

José Luccioni was a French operatic tenor of Corsican origin. He possessed one of the best dramatic voices of the 1930s and 1940s....

. The first performance in Paris was on 29 May 1936 at the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

.

Although Alfano originally set the text in French, the premiere was sung in Italian, as were many early Italian productions. In recent years, most productions have returned to the original French text.

Contemporary commentary on the opera by Guido M. Gatti criticised the composer as fearing "to seem too melodramatic", and the opera for being "overdecorated and labored" and containing "difficult and tortuous vocal writing". However, the same analysis also mentioned that "the opera has moments of definite effectiveness and exquisite poetry".

The US premiere was on 13 May 2005 when the opera was presented at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 with Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...

 in the title role.

Roles

Role	Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...	Premiere cast, 22 January 1936 (Conductor Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... : Tullio Serafin Tullio Serafin -Biography:Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19th century bel canto operas by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti to become staples of 20th century repertoire... )
Roxane	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Maria Caniglia Maria Caniglia Maria Caniglia was one of the leading Italian dramatic sopranos of the 1930s and 1940s.- Life and career :...
La duègne	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Agnese Dubbini
Soeur Marthe	mezzo-soprano	Edmea Limberti
Lisa	soprano	Matilde Arbuffo
Cyrano de Bergerac	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	José Luccioni José Luccioni José Luccioni was a French operatic tenor of Corsican origin. He possessed one of the best dramatic voices of the 1930s and 1940s....
De Guiche	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Giuseppe Manacchini
Carbon	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Giacomo Vaghi Giacomo Vaghi Giacomo Vaghi was an Italian opera singer who had an active international career from 1925-1956. Along with Tancredi Pasero and Ezio Pinza, he was one of the leading operatic basses of his generation. He possessed a rich voice with a dark timbre that drew him particular acclaim in the operas of...
De Valvert	baritone	Mario Bianchi
L'officer espagnol	baritone	Millo Marucci
Christian	tenor	Alessio De Paolis Alessio De Paolis Alessio De Paolis was an Italian operatic tenor who specialized in character roles. He was a prominent member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where he sang from 1938 to 1964. At the Met De Paolis performed 51 different roles, primarily in the Italian and French repertoires, in a...
Ragueneau	bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...	Emilio Ghirardini
Le Bret	bass-baritone	Ernesto Dominici
Lignière	baritone	Saturno Meletti Saturno Meletti Saturno Meletti was an Italian operatic bass-baritone particularly associated with the standard Italian repertory and contemporary works....

Recordings

• Opera d'Oro, a division of Allegro Corporation (OPD 1411): William Johns, Olivia Stapp, Ezio di Cesare; Maurizio Arena, conductor; recorded in Turin 1975
• CPO 5210620: Manuela Uhl, Jennifer Arnold, Susanna Bernhard, Roman Sadnik, Wolfgang Newerla, Simon Pauly, Paul McNamara, Matthias Kelin, Bernd Gebhardt, Konstantin Heintel; Chorus of Kiel Opera; Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra; Markus Frank, conductor (2002)
• Deutsche Grammophon 4688259 (DVD): Roberto Alagna
  Roberto Alagna
  Roberto Alagna is a French-Italian tenor. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Early years:Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips...
  
  , Nathalie Manfrino, Richard Troxell, Nicolas Rivenq, Marc Barrard, Jaël Azzaretti; Orchestre National de Montpellier; Marco Guidarini, conductor (2003)
• Live broadcast from the Met (not commercially released): Radvanovsky/Barasorda/Very/Michaels-Moore/de Candia; in New York; Armiliato, conductor (2006)
• Naxos (DVD): Radvanovsky/Domingo/Chacón Cruz/Gilfry/Corrado Caruso; in Valencia; Fournillier, conductor (2007)