Welcome!

In 1909, the first installment of Le Fantome de l’Opera was published in Paris, France. 82 years later, in 1991, a friend of mine played “Music of the Night” from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Phantom of the Opera for me. In those 82 years, that little series became a book. First published in France in 1910, it was translated into English and published in English in 1911. In 1925, 14 years later, that story came alive on the silver screen with Lom Chaney, Sr. as the phantom. The story then went on to be redone over and over, including by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which then went on to become an international phenom.

On that evening in 1991, I became a Phantom of the Opera fan. In the 20 years since, I’ve seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical two times, seen a showing of Phantom of the Opera at a local dinner theater for my sweet 16 birthday, and read the novel at least a dozen times as well as other novels about Erik. (Note: As of the end of July – 7 times in 2011!) I’ve based term papers and English class assignments on the story.

This past Christmas, 2010, I received a copy of one of the English translations of The Phantom of the Opera (the 4th in my collection). This prompted me to read these 4 translations back to back, comparing and contrasting the different translation styles. I also took notes on ideas that occurred to be about the characters as I read. It’s been a long time since I did any significant work with PTO, which is what leads me to this website. I’ve had a lot of ideas about PTO in the back of my mind for a long time. I’m now bringing these ideas into (virtual) print.

Erik’s Opera is a site born out of my love of this story and my thoughts. With the exception of my previous works – the schoolwork I mentioned above – this site is dedicated to the original novel. While I am familiar with other versions of the story, and love some of them (Phantom by Susan Kay, for example), I’ve stuck strictly to the novel for my commentary. My collection now includes 5 English translations. And, as far as I know, I now have a copy of all English translations. Therefore, some of my commentary will be based upon one translation over another. Some of the commentary will be about the differences in translations themselves.

Secondly, in addition to sticking to the original novel, I have also avoided reading others’ commentary/analysis of the story. I want to be sure that my thoughts are not influenced by anyone else’s ideas. Here and there I have checked on a matter of historical fact (like when determining the year the story takes place) or other matters of fact (such as information on the school system in France). But, I have not consulted any other works. This includes history books or essays that may give the background/basis for material in the book. I know it is out there, and I have some of it in my personal collection. However, I’ve avoided reading this as well while writing my own analysis.

Basically, I wanted to remain as impartial as possible to outside influences on my ideas about the novel. My 5 translations and my own life experience are all that I’ve used to write the comments and analysis on this site.

So, without further ado, I invite you to read on.