F de l'opera: the missing section about the Persian
And here, for the benefit of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erimia, is the missing text concerning the Daroga, tracked down with great difficulty owing to my inability to navigate Tumblr... Virtue is rewarded since it turns out to contain more on Sorelli as well; she had been rushing off to see Philippe in the interval, and was actually dispatched by the managers to sound out the Comte's views rather than arriving of her own accord to try to make trouble for Christine as implied by the subsequent extract in isolation.
https://fdelopera.tumblr.com/post/100794291513/welcome-to-the-19th-installment-of-15-weeks-of
The missing Persian
Welcome to the 19th installment of 15 Weeks of Phantom, where I post all 68 installments of Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, as they were first printed in Le Gaulois newspaper 105 yeas ago.
In today’s installment, we have Part III 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 Friday, 22 October, 1909.
For anyone following along in David Coward’s translation, the text starts in Chapter 8 at, “Moncharmin, ever a man for a joke, said, ‘Actually, quite a good house for a theatre which has a curse on it!'” and goes to Chapter 8, “But a few, who seemed slightly better informed, agreed that 'they’d kick up a storm’ at the start of the ballad of the King of Thule, and hurried off to the subscribers’ door to tell La Carlotta.“ Please note, though, that a large portion of this section was omitted from Leroux’s 1st Edition.
There are some significant differences between the standard 1st Edition text and the Gaulois text. In this section, these include (highlighted in red above):
1) This section in the Gaulois was sadly cut from the 1st Edition:
The Persian was a living enigma who was starting to irritate Paris. He spoke to no one. He never smiled. He seemed to love music since he attended all of the musical productions, and yet he was not enthusiastic, he did not applaud, and he did not become impassioned.
Here is how M. A.D…, a former journalist who had been the Opéra’s secretary, spoke of the Persian*: "For many years, he has been sneaking his way through our Parisian lives, always alone, always silent, but loving and seeking out the crowds, bearing in broad daylight and by lamplight a stone-faced countenance and a slightly hesitant gait, appearing at every performance with his perpetual costume, a Persian hat and a great, black houppelande coat, in the sleeves of which he continuously wrings his unceasingly nervous hands.”
That evening, like every evening, our Persian was thus dressed in Persian attire; but the new Ambassador of Persia himself was dressed in the latest Parisian fashion, and there was nothing surprising about this, since he had come directly from London.
The seat occupied by the Persian was located right below the Ambassador’s box. At the close of the curtain, the Persian rose and remained standing, turning his back to the box. But certainly he would soon turn around, and the Ambassador would see him. What would he do? Would he recognize him? Was there even anyone in Persia who knew the Persian? There were those who said that he was a very important figure; well, they were going to see!
They saw nothing at all. M. Moncharmin relates in his Memoirs that the Persian appeared before the Ambassador of Persia without even acknowledging him and that there was in the demeanor of the former more aloofness and quiet disdain than usual. In this regard, M. Moncharmin writes that the Persian was one of the most handsome men that one could see, “of average height**, with even features, an expressive and masculine face etched with a profound melancholy, with black eyes that are intense and sad, a jet black beard, and an amber colored complexion made golden by the Oriental sun.” M. Moncharmin recounts that when the public’s attention turned to the Persian, one heard in the house the discrete sound of rattling keys. The spectators were wary of the “evil eye.” And he says nothing more about that incident.
When the Managers were once again alone in their box, M. Moncharmin said to M. Richard, still with a light-hearted air: (this is where the 1st Edition picks back up)
*As revealed by Phantom researcher extraordinaire, Scorp (go follow him on Twitter), in his recent article, “No Ordinary Skeleton” (which you all should read), “M. A.D…” was M. Adolphe Dupeuty. He described a real incident which happened at the old Opéra in 1857, in which the Persian Ambassador attended a performance at which the “Persian” (Mohammed Ismaël Khan) was also present. This article was published in “La Vie parisienne à travers le XIXe siècle: Paris de 1800 à 1900 d’après les estampes et les mémoires du temps,” edited by Charles Simond.
In his “factional” style, Leroux “borrowed” heavily from this article in writing his fictional account of the Persian and the Persian Ambassador. The quote from “M. A.D.” was taken verbatim from M. Dupeuty’s article.
** This means that Erik was also of average height, because the Persian later says that he and Erik are the same height. The headcanon of Erik being excessively tall likely comes from Susan Kay’s novel.
2) This sentence was cut from the 1st Edition:
Yes, this was the appointed replacement for the old madwoman, and with her in place, they would see if Box 5 continued to cause a sensation.
3) This paragraph was cut from the 1st Edition:
None of the sounds of the sort that are heard at séances and which, as everyone knows, are generally attributed to interference from the beyond, resounded against or within the partition walls, the ceiling, or the floor; the chair upon which Richard was sitting behaved itself in the most admirable way possible, and the voice, the notorious voice, still remained silent. The Managers were busy noting this, when the door of their box was abruptly flung open by the panic-stricken stage manager.
4) This sentence was cut from the 1st Edition:
They would see to this in a little while.
5) Sadly, this section in the Gaulois was cut from the 1st Edition, and replaced with a brief summary:
At this time, MM. Moncharmin and Richard descended from their box. The wings were already overrun. Having arrived on the stage, they headed immediately to the right, towards La Carlotta’s dressing room, whose windows overlooked the administrative courtyard. They then ran into La Sorelli, who was rushing to see the Comte de Chagny before he returned to his box.
They gestured to her, which she understood, for she straightaway left the Comte and came over to the two Managers who begged her to discretely ask the Comte about what might be the basis of the rumors of a cabal organized against La Carlotta.
While they awaited La Sorelli’s reply, they entered La Carlotta’s dressing room. The room was full of friends and comrades, and above all of the various conversations, one could hear the singer’s voice, which proclaimed a thousand threats against La Daaé.
Of Spanish origin, La Carlotta had retained an accent of a very particular flavor, and when some excessive emotion, like anger, hurried her speech, she expressed herself in such a way that it was difficult for those listening to refrain from smiling. And so despite the gravity of the situation, there were many smiles that evening in La Carlotta’s dressing room.
The two Managers approached the singer, who was in the process of placing upon her magnificent tresses, blacker than the night, another no less magnificent coiffure, paler blonde than the dawn’s first light. It was the wig with two thick plaits worn by the gentle Marguerite. The twinkling of La Carlotta’s jet black eyes stood out even more within this golden frame. She rose when she saw “these gentlemen,” and placing a hand upon her heart, she professed her sincerest feelings to the new management so passionately that certainly MM. Moncharmin and Richard would have been moved to tears if they had been able to understand a word of that astounding gibberish. Finally, she handed them a piece of paper whose writing in red ink had the effect of commanding the interest of the two Managers. They had no difficulty recognizing it.
6) Minor differences in punctuation and capitalization.
no subject
I hate with passion the fanon about Erik being unusually tall. It's so widespread and so clearly meant to make him more attractive.
no subject
Erik's abnormal height, like his Siamese cat and 'Nadir', is one of those things that has got absorbed from Susan Kay without most people even realising that it's not canon. I can see why Kay did it -- extreme emaciation is much more striking on a tall man than a short one, so if you want to have your character look convincingly like a living skeleton, emphasising his height is a plausible route. And it's not as if Leroux makes any particular issue of Erik's not being tall (the only hint we have one way or the other is that sidelong allusion when the Persian is looking for the secret catch, and knowing Leroux's attitude to details I'm sure that was just a throwaway remark rather than a clearly thought-out mental image ;-p)
However, I don't use it myself because it isn't canon...
no subject
What did I say about Leroux's attitude to details? :-p