Polyphème

There is no suggestion that he is not fully human (the text clarifies that he has two eyes), but he is portrayed as a morose and solitary forest dweller who hopelessly yearns for love.

Ultimately, the cyclops put his eyes out like Oedipus and wanders into the sea to find death because the couple's happiness together horrifies him.

[4] The drama proceeds through a series of arcadian pastoral tableaus punctuated by Polyphème's long brooding soliloquies and his obsessive interrogations of Galatée's young brother Lycas.

Cras completed the music in 1914, working on the orchestration while serving in the French navy during the Adriatic campaign of World War I.

A recording of this opera was released in 2003, with Bramwell Tovey conducting the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and with Armand Arapian [fr] in the title role.