Where did the music in Phantom come from?
In the revised version of Phantom [see below for information on the revisions], Hill wanted his audience to hear the kind of music that would have been heard at the Paris Opera House in the late nineteenth century, the time period in which the story of The Phantom of the Opera is set. He took music from beautiful opera arias by Gounod, Offenbach, Verdi, Weber and Donizetti and wrote witty, original English lyrics that told Gaston Lerouxs tale, to accompany them. The music was out-of-copyright, which meant that Hill had a free reign to use what he needed. This way of putting new lyrics to old music created a musical that reflected the era in which the original novel was written.
