The Phantom of the Opera
Something is living beneath the Paris Opera House, and it has decided which soprano will sing. Leroux tells it as an investigation, insisting throughout that the events were real.
Things worth knowing
- Leroux opens with a foreword insisting the Opera ghost really existed, in flesh and bone, and was not a superstition got up by the ballet girls, the box-keepers and the concierge.
- The story ran as a serial in the Paris daily Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and appeared as a book in March 1910.
- On 20 May 1896 a counterweight of the Palais Garnier chandelier collapsed into the main auditorium and crushed a spectator.
- Leroux covered the Paris courts for Le Matin before he turned to fiction; his judicial press card, held by the Bibliothèque nationale, is dated 8 February 1894.
Listen, or read along
Every chapter has the recording and the same chapter as text. Open both if you like: the text is the words you are hearing.
-
1 Prologue 11 min
-
2 Chapter One 20 min
-
3 Chapter Two 20 min
-
4 Chapter Three 16 min
-
5 Chapter Four 27 min
-
6 Chapter Five, Part One 17 min
-
7 Chapter Five, Part Two 18 min
-
8 Chapter Six 5 min
-
9 Chapter Seven 28 min
-
10 Chapter Eight 17 min
-
11 Chapter Nine 21 min
-
12 Chapter Ten 11 min
-
13 Chapter Eleven 16 min
-
14 Chapter Twelve, Part One 22 min
-
15 Chapter Twelve, Part Two 19 min
-
16 Chapter Thirteen 23 min
-
17 Chapter Fourteen 13 min
-
18 Chapter Fifteen 8 min
-
19 Chapter Sixteen 24 min
-
20 Chapter Seventeen 13 min
-
21 Chapter Eighteen 11 min
-
22 Chapter Nineteen 13 min
-
23 Chapter Twenty 31 min
-
24 Chapter Twenty-One 28 min
-
25 Chapter Twenty-Two 13 min
-
26 Chapter Twenty-Three 12 min
-
27 Chapter Twenty-Four 22 min
-
28 Chapter Twenty-Five 15 min
-
29 Chapter Twenty-Six 18 min
-
30 Epilogue 19 min
Where this comes from
Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.
This recording uses Alexander Teixeira de Mattos's English translation, published in 1911. He died in 1921 and Gaston Leroux died in 1927, so both the novel and the translation are in the public domain in the United States and in countries that protect a work for seventy years after the author's death.
Cover image: Publicity still from 1925 Universal film, dir. Rupert Julian, with Lon Chaney.
Narration: text-to-speech.
Want a copy for your bookshelf?
Enjoyed this audiobook? Add a printed copy to your personal library, or share the experience by gifting one to a friend or family member.
Open Ear Books earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.