Welcome to the 18th installment of 15 Weeks of Phantom, where I post all 68 sections of Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, as they were first printed in Le Gaulois newspaper 115 yeas ago.
In today’s installment, we have Part II of Chapter 8, “Où MM. Firmin Richard et Armand Moncharmin ont l’audace de faire représenter « Faust » dans une salle « maudite » et de l’effroyable événement qui en résulta” (“Where MM. Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin Have the Audacity to Have ‘Faust’ Performed in a ‘Cursed’ House and the Horrifying Event Which Thereby Ensued”).
This section was first printed on Thursday, 21 October, 1909.
For anyone following along in David Coward's translation of the First Edition of Phantom of the Opera (either in paperback, or Kindle, or from another vendor -- the ISBN-13 is: 978-0199694570), the text starts in Chapter 8 at Erik's note to Carlotta, "If you appear tonight, be warned that something very unpleasant will happen when you open your mouth... and it will be a fate worse than death," and goes to Richard's line in Chapter 8, "'The Phantom's late,' said Firmin Richard."
There are some differences between the Gaulois text and the First Edition (highlighted in red above). In this section, these include:
1) In the Gaulois, the following text (highlighted in red above) was included after Leroux's description of the letter that Carlotta received (this sentence was cut from the First Edition):
La lettre a été perdue, mais MM. Richard et Moncharmin l'ont vue dans les conditions que je dirai tout à l'heure.
The letter has been lost, but MM. Richard and Moncharmin saw it under circumstances that I shall soon describe.
Quand on lui avait appris le lendemain matin, à son réveil, l'accueil extraordinaire qui avait été fait à sa remplaçante...
Quand on lui avait appris l'accueil extraordinaire qui avait été fait à sa remplaçante...
Translation from the Gaulois:
When she was informed the next morning, upon awakening, of the incredible reception that her understudy had received...
Translation from the First Edition:
When she was informed of the incredible reception that her understudy had received...
... Rossini disait à la Krauss, après l'avoir entendue chanter pour lui en allemand « Sombres forêts* ! ... »
... Rossini disait à la Krauss, après qu'elle eut chanté pour lui en allemand « Sombres forêts* ? ... »
Translation from the Gaulois:
... Rossini said to La Krauss, after hearing her sing for him, in German, 'Dark Forests!'...
Translation from the First Edition:
... Rossini said to La Krauss, after she'd sung for him, in German, "Dark Forests?"...
* NOTE: "Sombres forêts" ("Dark Forests"), from Rossini's opera "William Tell," should actually be "Sombre forêt" ("Dark Forest"). This typo originated in Leroux's source for this quote, Le Nouvel Opéra: Monument - Artistes (see #4 below).
4) The section of the Gaulois highlighted in blue above is taken from Le Nouvel Opéra: Monument - Artistes by X.Y.Z. (i.e. Anonymous). Leroux copied his sentences from this source, and then edited and rearranged them to fit his story. This description of Carlotta comes from the biography of operatic soprano Gabrielle Krauss. The sentences highlighted in blue in this image are what Leroux copied from this source (Leroux also copied other parts from this biography of Krauss in later sections of this chapter):
5) In the Gaulois, the following text (highlighted in red, within the blue section above) was included after Leroux's description of Rossini's compliment of La Krauss (it was cut from the First Edition).
There is indeed in all the arts, and in the art of singing in particular, a certain material exterior, which relates more to the senses than to the soul. It is this exterior which momentarily enthralls the ignorant masses, but which is also the least glorious and the least certain to shine. Voices which are only voices tire quickly, and they have good reason not to last, for they also quickly tire the listener which they were earlier able to astonish. I am not the only one to have realized this, but everyone agrees that to the voices which have both soul and style belongs lasting success.*
This text is also from Le Nouvel Opéra: Monument - Artistes:
* NOTE: Leroux was well known to “borrow” (i.e., plagiarize) from other works. In my translation of “The Magic Envelope” (linked here), I found that Leroux lifted a sentence directly from the French translation of Lorenzo da Ponte’s Memoirs. Leroux was an omnivorous reader, and might have copied phrases from books that he was currently reading.
In his chapter “The Magic Violin,” Leroux also lifted several poems from Le roi Fialar, which was a collection of Scandinavian poetry, translated into French prose by Hippolyte Valmore in 1879. (See my copy here.) Included in this volume was a French translation of “Den første sorg,” or “The First Sorrow,” a poem written in 1836 by the Norwegian poet, Andreas Munch. This poem started out, “Den lille Lotte tenkte på alt og ingenting,” or “Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing.” Sound familiar? @operafantomet was the first to discover this connection between Little Lotte and “Den første sorg,” which you can read more about here.
6) In the Gaulois, the following text was included right before Carlotta saw the hearse outside her window (it was cut from the First Edition):
La Carlotta était très superstitieuse.
La Carlotta was very superstitious.
7) The following text (highlighted in red above) appeared in the Gaulois publication (it was cut from the First Edition):
"Yes, the Phantom is late this evening," declared Firmin Richard. (this is where the First Edition text ends for this section)
"You look a bit pale," replied Moncharmin, in a bantering manner.
"Do you take me for Poligny?" laughed the audacious Richard.
"Speaking of Poligny ... you know, I believe I saw him over there, in the first tier box opposite us."
They searched for Poligny's face, but they didn't find it. However, in a first tier box facing them, next to the one in which Moncharmin believed to have seen Poligny, they saw a figure which drew the attention of the entire house. As they stood to take a stroll of the stage, since the first entr'acte would be longer than usual because of the new sets that the new direction had installed, some of their friends entered their box and informed them that the figure on which the entire house had fixed its gaze was the new ambassador of Persia, whom no one had met yet. And they added that the public's curiosity was less excited by the presence of this individual than by that of another figure, sitting in the stalls, who was known to the Parisian high society, and who Moncharmin and Richard couldn't help but notice: the Persian.* In short, people were looking to see if the ambassador of Persia was looking at the Persian.
* NOTE: Click here to learn more about Mohammed Ismaël Khan, Leroux’s inspiration for the character of The Persian (including a photo of his flat that I took at 204 Rue de Rivoli). And click here to read Mohammed Ismaël Khan's new Wikipédia page.
8) Minor differences in punctuation and capitalization.
Click here to see the entire edition of Le Gaulois from 21 October, 1909. This link brings you to page 3 of the newspaper — Le Fantôme is at the bottom of the page in the feuilleton section. Click on the arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to turn the pages of the newspaper, and click on the Zoom button at the bottom left to magnify the text.
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