The true Phantom story

Swedish opera singers that fit Christine's description

2010-06-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Sigrid Arnoldson

Sigrid Arnoldson (20 March 1861 – 7 February 1943) was a Swedish opera singer with an active international career at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. Possessing a fine coloratura soprano voice with a range of three octaves, music critics believed she was Jenny Lind's successor and dubbed her "the new Swedish Nightingale". Her voice is preserved on several recordings made in Berlin for the Gramophone Company between 1906 and 1910.

Olga Björkegren

Olga Augusta Christina Björkegren, (8 September 1857 - 30 April 1950), was a Swedish opera singer.

Daughter of the Sommelier Per Björkegren and Anna Söderberg. She was a student at Dramatens elevskola in 1873, and active at Swedish Theatre (Stockholm) in 1875-79 and the Royal Swedish Opera in 1879-87. She was described as dignified and classic and well suited for parts of great dignity.

She married the art collector and writer Klas Fåhraeus in 1887. In 1909, the couple used their villa as a combined art gallery, and their home became a center of artists: many young artists were also allowed to live there free of costs to develop their talent.

Ellen Gulbranson

Ellen Gulbranson (4 Mar 1863 - 2 January 1947) was a Swedish operatic soprano. She was a leading figure among the second generation of Bayreuth singers, whose fame was largely due to the Wagner festivals there. Her voice is preserved on a few recordings made with Edison Records and Pathé Records during the early part of the 20th century.

There are more, but this one,

Margareta Sofia Lagerqvist, caught my attention.

Margareta Sofia Lagerqvist (1771 - 6 June 1800 in Norrköping), was a noted Swedish opera singer and stage actor.

She was emplyed as an opera singer at the Royal Swedish Opera, and as an actor at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, in 1788-99, and additionally as both an actor and a singer at the Stenborg Theatre in Stockholm in 1784-99.

Her father worked as a caretaker. She debuted at the Eriksberg Theatre in Stockholm in January 1784. The same year, she became a student at the Royal Opera, but she was not contracted there until 1788. She was the student of Carl Stenborg.

The memoirist Gjörwell wrote about her: " She lived with her mother and lived a modest life. She was a fairly beautiful girl, sang beautifully but acted with coldness and spoke monotoniously".

At her performance in Norrköping 1800, she was given the critic: "Mrs Brooman have given the part to our complete pleasure. We can only regret, that an illness to the chest deny her voice the strength". She died soon after.

She married her colleague Jan Erik Brooman in 1798.

Very, very Christine-ish, although in the wrong era.

Also, remember that if the book is set in 1880-1881, then Christine must've been born 20 years before that, 1860-1861.

Little Lotte Mystery explained!

2010-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

From http://ezinearticles.com/?Who-Is-Little-Lotte?--Discovering-the-Mystery-Character-in-The-Phantom-of-The-Opera&id=65223

One of the more inexplicable details in the movie version of The Phantom of the Opera consists of Christine confessing to her friend Meg that when she and Raoul were children, he nicknamed her Little Lotte. Lotte was a common diminutive nickname for Charlotte, not Christine. It seems that the dialogue was added simply to explain to the audience why they then sing a duet about Little Lotte.

So why does Andrew Lloyd Webber have a duet about Little Lotte in his musical, then? Simple. It's in the original story by Gaston Leroux.

Now we get to the crux of the issue. In the 1980's, when Phantom first debuted, no one knew who Little Lotte was. The offhand reference in the lyrics made no sense to most theatre-goers. But at the time when Leroux was writing his book, readers would have known exactly what he was referring to.

Little Lotte is a parlor game, similar to Twenty Questions, where one person knows the answer, and other people try to guess it. But in this case, the person lists three items, and the others must guess which of the three Little Lotte prefers. The secret is hinted at by the name of the game -- Little Lotte prefers items with double consonents in their names.

So now, we have the lyrics: Little Lotte thought am I fonder of dolls or of goblins or shoes?

The correct answer should be dolls because it has the double-L. Since they both know the answer, they don't bother answering, merely posing the next set.

Or of riddles or frocks? Or of chocolates?

Again, Lotte would prefer riddles, because of the double-D.

You can see why the game quickly fell out of favor. Once you know the secret, there's no challenge. And that's why modern theatre-goers needed an explanation for who Little Lotte was.

Hidden Chamber under Paris...

2010-05-17T06:01:00.001-07:00

In September 2004, French police discovered a hidden chamber in the catacombs under Paris. It contained a full-sized movie screen, projection equipment, a bar, a pressure cooker for making couscous, a professionally installed electricity system, and at least three phone lines. Movies ranged from 1950s noir classics to recent thrillers.

When the police returned three days later, the phone and power lines had been cut and there was a note on the floor: “Do not try to find us.”

Ha. Familliar much?

Dahe.

2010-05-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

I took some time and searched on ancestry.com Christine Dahe's name. And yes, I got something!
Here, I copy pasted it all.

View Record

Preview

Name:	Christine Dahl
Age:	25
Estimated birth year:	abt 1895

There's more to see

A picture of the original document

And things like

Home in 1920	Birthplace
Relation to Head of House	Spouse's name
Father's Birth Place	Mother's Birth Place
Marital Status	Race
Sex	Able to read
Able to Write	Household Members
Sign up now

Christine Dahl
[Christine Dahe]

name

city, Adams, North Dakota

abt 1895

location

race

As you can read, it needs someone to sign up to find all that. But to sign up, you need to pay. We have a problem with that :P But, through Christines description, it seems that if the story was set in the 1880's, this Christine wouldn't have even been born! But maybe Leroux changed the dates a lot...But still, we don't know. And this Christine is in the states, and in Leroux's book she was in Europe. More updates soon.

Possible inspiration for Erik; The Elephant Man

2010-05-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Eric, a member of Phantomoftheopera.com, my favourite Phantom forum, I found out about a man who might have served as a small inspiration for Leroux's Erik. I just read his wikipedia page, and got chills. What horrible things happened to him? His family did not want him, and pictures of him are all over the internet! Although there's a possibility that a real Erik existed, he might have inspired Leroux. The man's name was Joseph Merrick, also known as "The Elephant man".

Here is his story compared to Erik's, summed up (from bookstove.com) :
He might have been based on Joseph Merrick, a disfigured sideshow performer. Its not entirely clear which disease he had, it might have been a combination of Proteus syndrome and Neurofibromatosis type I. Just as Eric in the novel, Joseph used a mask and worked at shows where he sometimes would be shown as some kind of “curiosity exhibition”. It´s said that when Alexanda of Denmark once visited him she touched his hand and Jospeh almost got a heart attack, for he never thought someone would bear to touch him. This might have inspired the scene where Christine kisses the Phantom.

Read more: http://bookstove.com/classics/the-phantom-of-the-opera-facts-and-fiction/#ixzz0nuYoieNk

He also wore a mask. Here is a picture of him (Beware: it might scare you or shock you): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Joseph_Carey_Merrick.png

But, he died at 27, which is 20 years off from our Leroux Erik.

Pictures and paintings of the inspirations...

2010-05-13T14:06:00.001-07:00

Just to give you a quick impression on what they looked like, and the way they were invisioned by Leroux.

Adelina Patti as Marguerite in Faust:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Adelina_Patti_and_Giovanni_Mario_in_Faust_opera.jpg
Adelina Patti in a Carlotta-ish pose:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3492598668_e2a476998c.jpg?v=1241216043
Adelina in a painting:
http://uy.kalipedia.com/kalipediamedia/artes/media/200808/15/musica/20080815klpartmsc_5_Ies_SCO.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fPoWZ33QqG4/S0iW-bjElRI/AAAAAAAAFQw/Dugh8FtLRCs/s320/Adelina+Patti+Age+15.jpg

Christina Nilsson:
http://www.ladyghost.com/sitebuilder/images/nilsson1-330x490.jpg
http://yvonne.tuvesson.rosenqvist.dinstudio.se/files/Christina_Nilssonbilder__och_annat_2009_048.JPG
http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_619_537223_juliusleblanc-stewart.jpg
http://www.historicopera.com/images/jearly-french/jearly_french1_nilsson_queen.jpg

Wow, a really rare picture of Mme. Nilsson, old and casual outside a house: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/3048139338_be0deff313.jpg
http://hem.passagen.se/maca5167/christ13.jpg

Carlotta Patti:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3612/3440553518_3fdf047501.jpg
http://www.old-print.com/mas_assets/full/N1150863128.jpg
http://img3.photographersdirect.com/img/262/wm/pd1848038.jpg <
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/3440553534_3e1d9b788c.jpg

Cecile Sorel: (Wow, she looks exactly like I envisioned La Sorelli, so beautiful!)
http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/1907/images/prevs/RV1068-12.jpg
http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/89857439.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921CC759DF4EBAC47D0BBDFF240651776F7FDB40012D5B249AB626C9736F3275685
http://www.insecula.com/PhotosNew/00/00/06/46/ME0000064662_3.JPG
http://www.terra.com.br/istoe-temp/edicoes/2067/imagens/i122969.jpg (In this picture, she reminds me of myself)

Marie Miolan-Carvalho (Another possible inspiration for Carlotta):
http://img3.photographersdirect.com/img/262/wm/pd651090.jpg
http://gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveImagesC/MiolanCarvalho001.JPG
http://www.appl-lachaise.net/appl/IMG/jpg/CARVELHO_1827-1895_Soprano_final.jpg

Various dancers who danced at the paris opera house (All were painted/made by Degas):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Glyptoteket_Degas1.jpg/160px-Glyptoteket_Degas1.jpg (This young girl was Marie van Goethem)
http://www.bestpriceart.com/vault/cgfa_degas2.jpg
http://dreamingradiance.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/degas001.jpg
http://www.penwith.co.uk/artofeurope/degas_blue_dancers.jpg
http://www.topofart.com/images/artists/Hilaire_Germain_Edgar_Degas/paintings/degas023.jpg

Gaston Leroux...Gaston, Gaston...

2010-05-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I look at his picture on a website, and I wonder: "Were you lying, Gaston Leroux? Or was there even a small piece of reality in your words?". Sure, there have been many stories after his about the Phantom.
"What could be the truth? There have been stories about you, one of them saying that when you were on your death bed, you said that the Phantom is real...whatshould I believe?"
That's all I know:
The Phantom wanted to disappear, and back in the 19th century, it was extremely easy. Only in our time it's hard to do. Christine wasn't Daae, but Dahe, she was a chorus girl/dancer, so completely anonymous, not a singer, not a famous renowned dancer...just a plain girl. No one would've mentioned her anywhere, unless she was famous and rich or extraordinary talented. She was probably french, too. Probably, the De Changy's weren't even involved with the story. Leroux wanted to make it interesting...so he put in drama. He made Christine from "Pauline Bellini" (as mentioned in the first drafts of his novel) to Christine Daae, probably wanting to make it closer to the real story. Erik was just a name, I guess. But we cannot be sure on that. Rouen (Erik's birthplace) was Leroux's mother's birthplace, and he had been visiting often. Also, the De Changy's had a permanent residence nearby! I just wish the story were completely and one hundred per cent true...but he was probably...faking it.
Excuse my use of "probably" so often in this text...
Thank you, Gaston Leroux, for giving us something to love :)
P.S. This post DOESN'T MEAN THAT I will stop posting stuff like before. This was just...more of a personal post. A recap.

Emma Livry: Her tutu was on fire

2010-05-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the story of Emma Livry, a young french dancer who tragically died. She is not actually really phantom related, but you can see that Leroux knew about her when he wrote his masterpiece.

From findagrave.com
French dancer. She was perhaps the greatest tragedy of the Romantic era. She studied at the Paris Opera School and later with Taglioni, making her debut aged sixteen with the Paris Opera as the sylphide in 'La Sylphide'. She was appointed to premiere danseuse that same year. A dancer of an unusually light poetic quality alhough not especially pretty, a wonderfully sucessful career seemed to be guaranteed. She created roles in only three works, including M. Taglioni's 'Le Papillon' in 1860 which was made just for her as Taglioni was so impressed with her talent. Sadly the rising stars career was cut short by a tragic accident. Romantic dancers would wear long, billowing, well-layered tulle skirts and because stages were lit by gas lamps they were advised to wear fire proof yet unattractive muslin for their own safety. Emma declined to wear it and the mistake cost her life. During a rehearsal of 'The Dumb Girl of Portici', her skirt caught on fire and although her colleagues and friends managed to smother it, Emma was serverly burnt and eight months later passed away. Her luminous career and life was extinguished at only twenty-one.

Here is a picture of her:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_a5lhupBpnQ4/SbzwHRMZJYI/AAAAAAAABKA/hPGxza8zeZg/s400/Livry_Farfalla+in+Le+Papillon+_+1861.jpg

New proof...unfortunately leading me to think that the story may not be real.

2010-05-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

I found these on twitter:

*According to LE GAULOIS (which later serialised Leroux's novel), rumours soon spread that the entire chandelier had fallen.
*Gounod's FAUST was by far and away the most performed opera at the Palais Garnier when Leroux's novel was first published.
*Gaston Leroux originally intended Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, to have origins not in Normandy, but rather in Sweden.
*Leroux concluded the manuscript to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA by writing he was hungry, before firing a pistol from his balcony (Yep, we know that he did that, but it's really funny)
*The final version of LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRA omits a whole chapter drafted by Gaston Leroux, entitled 'L'Enveloppe magique'. (Haha, L'enveloppe magique means "The magic envelop" to those not familliar with the french language)
*Leroux had planned to write a story similar to the Phantom of the opera set in the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the French National Assembly.
*Leroux originally intended for the character of Christine Daaé in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA to be called Pauline Bellini. (And to make her italian)
*Monsieur Mifroid, the police commissioner investigating Christine Daaé's disappearance, appears in 3 other novels by Leroux. ( that's really sad. Knowing that another character wasn't real)
*The design of Leroux's torture chamber is based on the Palais des Mirages, created in 1900 & now at the Musée Grévin, Paris.
*Gaston Leroux 1st mentioned his Phantom of the opera novel in a letter dated April 1908.
*Gaston Leroux likely began researching the Paris Opera House in 1902, when he was sent there by his newspaper LE MATIN.
* In Leroux's novel, the Persian's description of the torture chamber owes much to Edgar Allan Poe's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM

Here's an extremely rare picture of Leroux writing in his office: http://img.pikchur.com/pic_ITD_l.jpg?lm=

De Chagny's: Jehan=Raoul?

2010-05-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

The De Chagny family did not exist. Ever. The only one family that existed and still exists, are the Carpenter the Changys. Now, we know that Philippe (Raoul's brother) was 41 when he died, so if we search that family's counts and their deaths, we can actually find some clues. One count, Francois-Charles (1791-1837), died at the age of 46, which is close to 41, but the dates aren't exactly correct, I'm afraid. Leroux stated that his story occured in 1881,and this man died in 1837.
That's 44 years. Next generation: Francois's son, Eugene: he was born in 1819 and died 1889. So he's not our guy. The next one was a boy named Jehan, born in 1861 and died in 1942. He actually was the youngest son of the family, just like Raoul. Three generations later (1838), a man called Eric Carpentier, who had a cousin called Philippe, and was never adressed as "De Changy. Obviously Leroux knew about them, and used their names, as the last ones lived at the same time as him.

Note: Did you know that Leroux admitted that he had a crush on Christina Nilsson?

Christina Nilsson

2010-05-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

Let's find out more things about Christina Nillson, the main influence for Christine Daae.

I'll show you experts from other websites, which talk about her life with details, better than I could've ever written it. I will add some things to compare her with Christine Daae.

Christina Nilsson, soprano (1843 - 1921) with her golden voice made no less than four major tours across the United States and Canada. She was born on August 20, 1843, as the youngest of seven children at the small farm of Snugge, just south of Växjö in Småland. Snugge had been in Christina's family's possession for generations, but during her adolescence they were forced to give it up, as one of many bitter steps they had to climb down the social ladder. They came to belong to the large group of really poor Swedes in the 1800s, a period when many people emigrated to the United States.

Christine Daae: Her father owned a farm, but had to give it up. She was an only child.

Christina Nilsson: She early showed a talent for singing as well as playing the violin. She was only eight years old when she started to contribute to her own and her family's support. Rather like a little beggar girl of the country road she made for the dances, the inns, the markets and other places where people gathered. With her song, her violin and her jaunty performance she became famous in the vicinity.

Christine Daae: She didn't play the violin, although she was a beautiful singer.

Christina Nilsson: When she, at the age of fourteen, attended the summer fair in Ljungby she got a fantastic opportunity which was going to change her life forever. She was offered a musical education by a local celebrity who had fallen for her obvious musical aptitude, and she accepted it greatfully.

Christine Daae: She was discovered by a singing teacher and his wife.

http://www.cnsallskapet.se/pics/ChristinaNilsson.jpg

She died in 1921. Christine Daae's death is never mentioned.

La Sorelli

2010-05-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

La Sorelli is completely out from the musical, but in the book she is the lead ballet dancer. I researched on her...and I found a french actress, born in 1873,with a very simillar name..and her looks are simillar, too. Cecile Sorel, or more widely known as Sorel. Here is the french wikipedia article, (I suggest you use a translating website if you don't speak french) http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9cile_Sorel Could she be the one Leroux wrote about?

Erik's book tastes

2010-05-05T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here's something I've never heard before, and I just figured it out.
The Phantom (Erik) went to the masquerade ball as the red death. The red death is a short story by Edgar Alan Poe. If he dressed up like that in the masquerade ball, it means he has been reading Edgar Alan Poe's stories. So we can conclude to the fact that he liked this kind of stories.

Tomorrow...more information on the characters.

Carlotta is a toad

2010-05-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

My conclusions on the Carlotta subject lead me to only one thing: Carlotta was based in many people.

According to phantomoftheopera.ro, someone from that site went to the opera library and read that:
"Mademoiselle Krauss (a diva): became ill. She couldn't sing for 10 days. Don Juan was replaced by Faust." (April, 1879)

Christine Nilsson, the woman which Leroux based Christine Daae's life and singing career on to make the story more interesting, had a great rival. Another soprano, Adelina Patti. Although no evidence of them arguing or even having ever talked to each other is known, Adelina's personality was pretty simillar to Carlotta's in the book. Also, CAN WE IGNORE THE FACT THAT ADELINA'S SISTER'S NAME WAS CARLOTTA PATTI? (Excuse the caps). Wikipedia says that Adelina was a coloratura diva, and even her face looks like the one of a diva's. She is spanish, just like the book Carlotta. She sang Faust (By Gounod). And we have recordings of her voice thanks to the Paris opera house (Which can be heard on youtube). Also, another funny thing is that, much like the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Carlotta, she was married to a tenor who sang with her, Ernesto Nicolini (Much like Piangi).
Carlotta Patti was weel-chair bound though.

Another inspiration for the character, was the short-tempered diva Marie Miolan-Carvalho, who also sang Marguerite, but only when she was really old, but it was a big fop, according to many sources I have.

And the last inspiration, was Rosa Carron, the singer who was singing when the counterweight of the chandelier fell. She was in the middle of an aria, when the counterweight fell on a woman.
Carlotta was inspired by many people.

Christine's last name was Dahe, not DAAE

2010-05-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

According to many sources, I have concluded to the fact that Christine's last name was Dahe. She was french. Her life as told by Leroux was inspired by Christine Nilsson's life, to make the story more interesting.

Here are my sources:

http://www.phantomoftheopera.ro/a_existat_erik_tur_opera.php :
Dahe... changed to Daae. Was she Nilsson? No. She was Dahe. But it's true that Gaston Leroux used Nilsson as the model [for Christine in his book]. The talent of one chorus girl would not have impassioned the public! People always admire those they can never be: an unparalleled singer, a magnificent and magical Phantom... something along the lines of hero worship. Consequently the solid gold ring [found on the skeleton] really did have C.D. on it in large, unmistakable letters... only it was lost in [one of the subsequent] wars.

http://iron-gibbet.deviantart.com/art/Guardian-Angel-of-Music-82359352?offset=50 (Check the comments)

~GoddessofMusic Apr 9, 2008, 3:18:37 PM Lovely

Makes me think of something my mother told me when I was a kid and she first read me the story of Phantom of the Opera.

My mother is a believer in the story because our family tree traces back to the girl Christine Daae is based off of so she read the story to me when I was pretty little. I had been all upset about the ending of the book and my mom told me not to worry because when he died he became the real angel of music. So when I asked her what it ment she said it ment that he watched over all the musicians and vocalists in the world. So in other words he basicaly became what Christine first thought he was, this made me very happy of course becuase my passion has always been singing.

Christine Dahé who was a chorus girl / ballerina though Leroux changed a lot of her life to resemble that of Kristina Nelsson (who he met as a young man and was smitten by) who was a famous opera star but by the time of the actaul chandelier crash (1896) was around the age of 53.

The problem is I can't really look into it anymore then that because the the files at the Paris Conservatoire are all there, except on the year 1896. The most info I have is that the chandelier did fall and killed one person is that year.

Also to add on to that I can't find any other family records on her other then her name showing up in the family tree, the year of birth and death, and a couple letters from her days in the opera house none of which talk about hearing or seeing a said Phantom but then again if I was seeing things like that I might not tell anyone either so who knows. All I know is that the last letter sent or stored away is in the year 1895.

Christina Nilsson's biography on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristina_Nilsson

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Nilsson (In Swedish, but with more details)

More coming soon.