Edmond Rostand

He was born in Marseille to a wealthy family. His father was an economist and poet. He studied literature, history, and philosophy at Stanislas College in Paris. He continued with legal studies and simultaneously wrote his first play, "Le Gant rouge" ("The Red Glove"), and several poems without any success. In 1890, he abandoned his legal studies and, although he obtained his license, he never practiced law. He devoted himself to literature. His first poetry collection appeared in 1890: "Les Musardises" ("The Idle Fancies"). In the same year, he married the poet Rosemonde Gerard, with whom he had two sons. In 1891, he wrote the play "Les deux Pierrots" ("The Two Pierrots"), but success came in 1894 with "Les Romanesques" ("The Romantics"). He then wrote two verse plays for Sarah Bernhardt: "La Princesse Lointaine" ("The Faraway Princess"), which premiered in 1895, and "La Samaritaine" ("The Samaritan Woman") in 1897. That year, "Cyrano de Bergerac" premiered at the Porte Saint-Martin, achieving a rare triumph in theatrical history. "L'Aiglon" ("The Eaglet"), a play written for Bernhardt, premiered in 1900 and met with similar success. This double success led him to the French Academy in 1901. He was thirty-three years old. However, his health, now fragile due to pneumonia, forced him to retire to Cambo, in the Basque Country, where he wrote "Chantecler," which premiered in Paris in 1910 without success. "The Last Night of Don Juan," presented posthumously, met the same fate. Edmond Rostand died of pneumonia in Paris on December 2, 1918.