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The Show
Education / The Power of Music
Ideas for research and discussion
In The Phantom of the Opera, The Phantom pretends to be "The Angel of Music" and inspires Christine to be a great singer.
Discuss the power of inspiration.
Have you ever been inspired by someone or something?
Research and discuss the origins of the words "muse" and "genius."
How are they used today?
The word "inspiration" comes from the Latin "inspirare," or "to breathe."
Discuss.
Listen to the tape of The Phantom of the Opera, and analyze the following songs:
- "Think of me"
- "The Phantom of the opera"
- "The music of the night"
- "All I ask of you"
- "Masquerade"
- "Wishing you were somehow here again"
- "The point of no return"
How do the different songs and the different music make you feel?
How do you think the composer makes you feel a certain way (what instruments are used, what rhythms, what harmonies, etc.)
How does the composer use the repetition of musical themes to create moods and build characters?
How does each song continue the story?
How does each song tell us different things about the characters?
What is an Opera? How is it different from a musical?
Would you say The Phantom of the Opera is an opera or a musical?
Before seeing The Phantom of the Opera, survey your class with the following question: How do you feel about Opera?
Does it bore you? Excite you?
After seeing the show, ask the same question. Has seeing The Phantom of the Opera changed how you feel about Opera?
In the novel of The Phantom of the Opera, Christine describes the music from the Phantom's opera, "His Don Juan Triumphant... seemed to me at first one awful, long, magnificent sob. But, little by little, it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. It intoxicated me..." While listening to the music from The Phantom of the Opera, note the music from Don Juan Triumphant. How does it make you feel? What do you think the composers of the musical are saying about the Phantom's music versus the other operas heard throughout the musical? How does the Phantom's music reflect his inner emotions?
"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are as dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus: Let no such man be trusted."
from The Merchant of Venice (Act V, sc. 1)"Music oft hath such a charm To make bad good, and good provoke to harm."
from Measure for Measure (Act IV, sc. 1)
How do these two quotes from Shakespeare relate to the use and power of music in The Phantom of the Opera?