The Glory of Being Human

[James Kilbourne]

It was a quiet, slow weekday evening. My partner Sergio was leaving to attend a meeting. I felt a little tired and, for no conscious reason, a little sad. I didn’t have anything that I really wanted to do. I thought I might watch the news and maybe a rerun of “Will and Grace” and “Frazier”, and wait for Sergio to come home.

As I sat down to watch TV, I glanced down at my coffee table and saw a DVD of “Cyrano de Bergerac” which I had recently purchased. We all know the great 1897 Rostand play and many of us recall a movie version, starring Jose Ferrer in the 1950’s or Gerard Depardieu in the 1990’s. However, this DVD is of a recent revival of a 1936 opera by Franco Alfano, presently only known to the world as the man who completed “Turandot”, which Puccini had not completed when he died in 1924. Although now it is fashionable to like the 2002 darker ending penned by Luciano Berio in 2002 (it is tremendously daring and thought-provoking), all but the most hopelessly modern will admit that the Alfano effort, which premiered under the baton of Arturo Toscanini in 1926, is stunningly effective. It would be difficult, after hearing the Puccini/ Alfano “Turandot”, not to skip out into the night filled with the glory of being human.

During the last century, many a composer has withered in the shade cast by Giacomo Puccini, the greatest opera composer since Wagner and Verdi. In my opinion, he is the greatest opera composer of them all. The combination of the Alfano’s brave and successful work on “Turandot”, and my love of “Cyrano de Bergerac” inspired me to purchase the DVD. I had thought to save it to share with special friends, but I needed something that night, and I decided to put it on for a few minutes, just to get a taste of what I could expect. Two and a half hours later I looked up, bleary-eyed, to see Sergio looking knowingly down at me, aware that he had caught me lost in another profound musical experience.

Alfano did not have Puccini’s sublime capacity to write profound and memorable melodies. What he did possess is an understanding of how “big” life can be, combined with a great romantic heart. With his considerable musical talents and originality, he also possessed great courage, a virtue much needed to attempt as daunting a challenge as bringing Cyrano musically to life. Alfano was more than equal to this challenge. What a magnificent opera! Music is the perfect medium to communicate this play’s profound insights! Alfano is not a watered down Puccini. His music doesn’t sound like anyone else’s. I do not understand why this score has sat disintegrating in some forgotten library for almost 70 years.

Every child born into society receives a precious gift, an inheritance greater than any financial gift, that no dedication to work can earn. Every child receives the accumulated wisdom and unconquered spirit of the greatest men and women who came before him. Geniuses of philosophy, politics, and social theory discovered the institutions and laws that allowed the child to be born into a thriving civilization instead of a cave. He is surrounded by the masterworks of creative geniuses, works that give meaning and depth to his greatest thoughts and most profound understandings. They enrich our lives and remind us that we are not alone in our insights and our longing for the joyful fulfillment of our potential.

We owe it to the memory of these great people- and to that potential in us that is so glorious- to put down our remotes and cell phones now and then, to stop chatting and browsing and surfing, and to revel in the treasures that are our birthright. At this moment, my thoughts are with Edmund Rostand, who created the character of Cyrano de Bergerac, and with Franco Alfano who, inspired by that great creation, brought Cyrano’s beauty to us in a powerfully direct and majestic manner. I love Cyrano. No character better shows us the uncompromised romantic heart. For me, no fictional character surpasses his power to demonstrate what it means to love life.

We are told all our lives that we are flawed, that we are “only human.” Yet no fictional character is more human than Cyrano, and it is the Cyrano in my soul, struggling to his feet to confront death, that reminds me that glory can be my destiny as it was his destiny. After all, I am “only human”, too.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

James,

You are certainly one hell of a salesman for Franco Alfano. I will definitely take your recommendation and check him out.

You wrote:

Every child receives the accumulated wisdom and unconquered spirit of the greatest men and women who came before him.

Then:

We owe it to the memory of these great people- and to that potential in us that is so glorious- to put down our remotes and cell phones now and then, to stop chatting and browsing and surfing, and to revel in the treasures that are our birthright.

Wise, wise, wise...

I need to work more on taking advantage of this marvelous legacy myself.

Michael

[Roger Bissell]

Thank you for this, too, James.

REB

[Tee-Jay]

I really found this to be interesting. It makes me want to go out and rent "Cyrano de Bergerac" and look into the work of Franco Alfanco. Really good.

[Matus1976]

Every child born into society receives a precious gift, an inheritance greater than any financial gift, that no dedication to work can earn. Every child receives the accumulated wisdom and unconquered spirit of the greatest men and women who came before him. Geniuses of philosophy, politics, and social theory discovered the institutions and laws that allowed the child to be born into a thriving civilization instead of a cave. He is surrounded by the masterworks of creative geniuses, works that give meaning and depth to his greatest thoughts and most profound understandings. They enrich our lives and remind us that we are not alone in our insights and our longing for the joyful fulfillment of our potential.

Amazing, thank you for that...