Madison Duffield the Phantom of the Opera

I chose to write about the famous novel turned Broadway musical called The Phantom of the Opera which was based on a book that was written in the early 1900s by author Gaston Leroux. In 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber turned the book into a Broadway musical becoming the composer of The Phantom of the Opera.

The music that was used in The Phantom of the Opera is very dramatic with a touch of rock and roll. The music incited all kinds of emotions such as excitement, fear, love, sympathy, anger, vengeance, triumph, sadness, and forgiveness.

All kinds of orchestral instruments were used in the musical such as trombones, trumpets, clarinets, flutes, bassoons, violins, pianos and the most prominent piece played, the organ. The music was also used in a way that created a mood for each scene as well as to define the different characters.

The music of The Phantom of the Opera successfully set the mood for every scene of the play by using different forms such as harmony, timbre, texture, melody, tempo, and dynamics.

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The essays on phantom of the opera song ‘Think of Me’ has a unique texture or structure and is the first time we hear a song that is sang by one of the main characters Christine Daaé. The main harmony of the song consists of a piano and a woman’s voice singing and creating a cheerful mood or feeling and maintaining a moderately quick tempo throughout the musical piece. The song uses different dynamics that include crescendos and decrescendos to set the mood.

The melody for each character of The Phantom of the Opera uniquely defined each character by using different levels of sound depending on the scene as well as many other musical forms. The dynamics of the theme song are loud at times and then will suddenly drop to low levels of singing and the texture is super thick. The fast-paced theme song for the musical has a dark doom-like tone with the use of the organ which emphasizes the darkness along with the woman’s sweet and soft voice results in a melody that perfectly defines the Phantom, Erik himself.

The music of The Phantom of the Opera revealed the inner emotions of the main characters with unique lyrics, rhythm, and melody along with many other forms of music. The lyrics of the song ‘The Music of the Night’ revealed that the Phantom has a real love and talent for music as well as is a musical genius who writes operas. The song has a dynamic that is smooth and soft with the addition of the Phantom’s voice as the main timbre successfully making the audience feel sympathy for the Phantom. The song ‘Angel of Music’ presents changes in texture with the addition of a second voice, the Phantom’s. Throughout the song, the Phantom has a powerful and authoritative tone while Christine’s tone is soft and almost unsure.

The Phantom’s theme song with its use of the organ’s unique sounding music alerted the audience when the Phantom would appear in a scene or when something dramatic was about to happen. The music of the theme song is dark, mysterious and unknowing and can dramatically change a scene within an instant. For example, after Christine and Raoul sing ‘All I Ask of You’ the Phantom begins singing his part at the very end and the dynamic of the sweet, soft love song changes dramatically as the Phantom curses their love out of jealous rage. With the end of ‘All, I Ask of You’ the audience is aware that the Phantom has a vendetta and a constant dark tone is set for the rest of the musical.

In my opinion the Phantom’s theme song is the most effective piece of the entire musical. The song is constantly used throughout the musical to introduce the Phantom into different scenes. The scenery that was most effective in the musical was the dry ice meant to be swirling mist that was spread out all over the stage for the underground ‘Labyrinth’ scene because it was successful in transforming the stage into the illusion of the glossy lake as the Phantom rowed Christine in a boat to his home beneath the Opera house. The costume used that I believe was the most effective in the musical was the mask of the Phantom because I felt that it represented a safe place for the Phantom while hiding his hideous features so that he may walk among other people. At the end of the play only the mask was found left by the angel of music.

The scene where the Phantom takes Christine to his underground lair was the most memorable to me with the introduction of his true self as the angel of music. As the Phantom sang ‘Angel of Music’ and ‘Music of the Night’ we learn for the first time that he has a softer side and he is utterly in love with writing music and Christine. He only wishes to be accepted by everyone whilst secretly longing for a life of beauty and to not have a loathsome gargoyle face.

I believe the artistic goals of the musical are to successfully create emotions and feelings in the minds of the audience members by utilizing many different forms of the musical instruments within the orchestra. The lighting and costumes were also used to enhance the dramatic storyline and generate a sense of sympathy for the main character, Erik.

The music helps the choreographer by creating the mood for each moment or scene of the musical and to manipulate the atmosphere. This result is what will be seen and experienced by the members of the audience. The dances that the choreographer creates must go with certain beats and rhythms of the music and produce a fluid combination.

The storytelling element is what is the most interesting about the music of The Phantom of the Opera. The fascinating way that each song in the musical told the main story or personal stories of each character. The musical duets that intertwined certain roles telling a deeper more intense part of the story was compelling as well. The way that the darkness of the music maintained an exciting feeling with many different emotions was the most riveting aspect of all.

At the end of the live rendition of The Phantom of the Opera musical multiple performers began singing the part of the song from ‘Music of the Night’ with the lyrics about paying homage to music. The performers sang those particular lyrics throughout the credits which I believe reiterated the fact that music was the most powerful and central element of the entire performance because it was capable of promoting strong feelings and emotions just by the usage of instruments and musical forms such as harmony, timbre, texture, melody, tempo and dynamics.

The impression that I was left with by the end of the credits of the musical was that you hear it, therefore you feel it. In my opinion musical performances like The Phantom of the Opera that are made up of great music will successfully elicit an emotional response or feeling every second of every scene whether it be joyful or sorrowful.

Works Cited

1. Leroux, G. (2016). The phantom of the opera. London: Macmillan Collector's Library.
2. Webber, A. (2012). The Phantom of the Opera [DVD]. London, England.