The Music of the Night
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"The Music of the Night" is a song from the musical The Phantom of the Opera. It is one of the show's most famous songs and one of the most famous songs in musical theatre. The popular song has sold millions of copies worldwide and has been translated into many different languages. The music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyrics were written by Charles Hart. The song was made famous by Michael Crawford, the actor who originated the role of the Phantom both in London and on Broadway. The Really Useful group filmed a video starring Crawford and Brightman (who did not sing) which featured the original lyrics to the song. The song was also performed by American Idol season 7 winner David Cook.
It is sung after the Phantom lures Christine Daaé down to his lair beneath the Opera House. He seduces Christine with "his music" of the night. Eventually, the Phantom pulls back a curtain to reveal a life-size doll of Christine in a wedding gown, causing her to faint. The Phantom carries Christine to a bed, where he lays her down and goes on to write his music.
Sarah Brightman declared at the London's Royal Albert Hall Concert in 1997,[1] that the song was originally written by Andrew Lloyd Webber for her, the first time he met her. That version had different lyrics and was called Married Man. The lyrics were later rewritten and the song was added into the The Phantom of the Opera.
A year before The Phantom Of The Opera even opened at Her Majesty's Theatre, the original version of the song was performed at Andrew Lloyd Webber's own theatre at Sydmonton, along with the first drafts of the show. The audience were a specially gathered group of Webber's acquaintances. The Phantom was played by Colm Wilkinson, who sang "The Music Of The Night" in Act One. As the lyrical assistance of Charles Hart had not yet touched the song, the lyrics were (in places) very different from the ones used in the three versions below.
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There are three more versions of The Music of the Night. The next being the original stage lyrics contains:
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- Softly, deftly, music shall surround you.
- Feel it, hear it, closing in around you.
- Later these lyrics were changed:
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- Softly, deftly, music shall caress you.
- Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you.
Michael Crawford recorded a third video version, later used in duet with Barbra Streisand, with several main differences:
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- Darkness wakes and stirs imagination.
- Changed to:
- Darkness stirs and wakes imagination.
- And:
- Helpless to resist the notes I write,
- For I compose the music of the night. (addition)
- Later on:
- Hearing is believing
- Music is deceiving
- Hard as lightning soft as candle light
- Dare you trust the music of the night
- Replaced with:
- Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
- Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light,
- And listen to the music of the night
- And subsequently:
- Close your eyes,
- For your eyes will only tell the truth,
- And the truth isn't what you want to see,
- In the dark it is easy to pretend,
- That the truth is what it ought to be
- Replaced with:
- Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
- Purge your thoughts of the world you knew before
- Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
- And you'll live as you've never lived before
- Just a small change, but:
- Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world,
- Changed to:
- Close your eyes, start a journey through a strange, new world
- And also:
- Close your eyes and let music set you free!
- Changed to:
- Let your soul take you where you long to be!
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Alternate lyrics to the song
- Former Broadway Phantom Hugh Panaro performing the song in concert
- Performance of Music of the Night by Julian Lloyd Webber
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