the phantom of the opera

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

TEACHER’S BOOK

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Gaston Leroux

Retold by Bill Bowler

© 2018 – StandFor

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Leroux, Gaston, 1868-1927.

The phantom of the opera : standfor graded readers : level 2 / Gaston Leroux ; retold by Bill Bowler ; illustrated by Rodrigo Rosa. -- 1. ed. -São Paulo : FTD, 2018.

ISBN 978-85-96-01495-3 (aluno)

ISBN 978-85-96-01496-0 (professor)

Literatura infantojuvenil em inglês

I. Bowler, Bill. II. Rosa, Rodrigo. III. Título.

Índices para catálogo sistemático:

1.

2.

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THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was born in Paris in 1868. He studied as a lawyer, and, although he came from a rich family, he spent money easily, and was often in financial difficulty. In 1890, he began working as a journalist and critic for a Paris newspaper. In 1907, he gave up his newspaper career and began writing detective stories. He published The Phantom of the Opera in 1911, and went on to write more than twenty novels, as well as collections of short stories. He died in 1927, in the south of France.

BEFORE READING

Look at the picture on the front of the book and read the back cover. Check the correct answers.

1. Who is living in the Opera House in Paris?

a. Something we can’t hear.

b. Something we can’t see easily. P

c. A woman called Christine.

d. A musician.

2. What can you usually see at an opera house?

a. ghosts

b. dead people

c. singing and dancing P

d. movies

3. When does this story happen?

a. About ten years ago.

b. Last year.

c. Hundreds of years ago.

d. About a hundred years ago. P

Check the things that you think are in the story.

2 Personal answers.

1. bicycles

4. frightened people P

5. a ghost P

7. money P

8. music P

9. restaurants

10. singing P

11. a supermarket

12. underground rooms

2. cameras

3. a castle

Chapter 1 Christine’s Hat

Our story begins with a man, his wife, and their daughter, in a small country town in Sweden. The family’s name is Daaé, and Mr. Daaé loves music. He plays the violin beautifully. When Mrs. Daaé dies, their daughter, Christine, is only six years old. Daaé sells his house in the country and travels to the city of Uppsala. He wants to play the violin there, and make a lot of money. His daughter has a nice voice and she sings well, so he takes her with him. But it’s difficult in Uppsala, and they do not get rich.

After three unhappy months, Daaé and his daughter leave Uppsala and start to travel from town to town. Christine sings, and her father plays the violin in the street. They make a little money –but not much!

Then, one day, an old man, Professor Valérius, hears some wonderful violin music in the street. It is Christine’s father! The Professor takes the Daaés to live with him and his wife in their big house in Gothenburg. For Valérius, Daaé plays the best violin music in the world. Through him, Daaé meets important people in the world of music and finds more work.

Many people now know Daaé’s name. Valérius likes Christine’s voice, too. He pays for school and music classes for her, and she learns quickly.

The Phantom of the Opera

Later, the Valériuses move to Perros, a town in Brittany in northwest France. Christine and her father go with them. Professor Valérius and his wife have no children, and Mrs. Valérius is soon a second mother to Christine. Christine calls her “Mamma” Valérius.

That summer, when Mamma Valérius and Christine are walking by the ocean, they meet a young boy with his aunt. The boy’s name is Raoul and he is interested in Christine because she is singing beautiful songs. Raoul walks after her and Mamma Valérius along the beach.

Suddenly, Christine’s hat goes into the ocean. The water begins to take it away. Raoul runs into the water – in his clothes – and gets it back for her.

Christine’s Hat | Chapter 1

After that, Christine and Raoul meet and play every day.

“I want to cross the ocean and see the world when I’m older,” Raoul says.

“And I want to sing at the Paris Opera House,” Christine answers.

Christine’s father gives violin classes to Raoul. And he tells stories to the two children: “The Angel of Music lives in Heaven and has a beautiful voice. He comes when you feel unhappy. You can hear him, but you can’t see him. When I die, the Angel of Music can help you, Christine!”

When the summer finishes, Raoul leaves Perros. He goes back with his aunt to his family’s home in Paris. Professor Valérius dies, but Mamma Valérius stays with Christine and her father.

The Phantom of the Opera

Three years later, Raoul comes back to Perros. He visits his old violin teacher, Mr. Daaé, and meets Christine again. Raoul is a young man now, and he falls in love with Christine. She loves him, too. But Raoul comes from a very old and important French family – the de Chagnys. He cannot marry Christine because she doesn’t come from an old and important family. So he leaves her in Brittany and goes back to Paris. Christine wants to forget Raoul, so she takes voice classes and works on her singing. Soon she is very good. When her father dies, Christine is very unhappy. She and Mamma Valérius move to Paris and live in an apartment; Christine starts to sing at the Opera House.

The Phantom Chapter 2

Three young women run into Sorelli’s room in the Paris Opera House. They all dance at the Opera and Sorelli is the most important of them. “What’s the matter?” Sorelli asks.

“The Phantom’s coming – with his black clothes and white face!” the first woman answers.

The second cries, “He watches all the operas from box number five. Joseph Buquet says so.” Joseph works at the Opera.

The third young woman, Meg Giry, speaks: “Joseph Buquet talks too much, my mother says.” Meg’s mother is the box five attendant.

That evening, some workers find Joseph Buquet dead in one of the Opera House cellars, a rope around his neck. All the people at the Opera worry more about the Phantom after that. Carlotta, an older opera singer, usually sings at the Opera. But tonight, she is sick. So young Christine Daaé, the new singer, is singing, and Raoul de Chagny comes to hear her. Christine is important now – and he loves her! At the end of the opera, Raoul goes to see her in her room at the back of the Opera House.

“I want no visits,” she tells him coldly. Raoul leaves, but he listens at the door. He can hear a man’s voice in the room. “Christine, you must love me!” it says.

“I sing just for you,” she answers.

“Who is Christine talking to?” Raoul thinks. Christine leaves the room without seeing Raoul. He goes into her room, but there is no man in there.

The old Opera managers are leaving and new managers – Monsieur Richard and Monsieur Moncharmin – are starting work. That night, there is a party for the old managers. Sorelli thanks them from all the Opera workers. After the party, the old managers talk to Richard and Moncharmin, “Be careful!” they say. They have a letter from the Phantom with them, and Richard and Moncharmin read it.

The Phantom of the Opera

“You must always leave box five free for me,” the letter says. “And leave 20,000 francs for me with Madame Giry every month.”

The new managers laugh. “That’s a great story!” they say. They don’t want to give money to the Phantom and they want to sell tickets for box five.

The old managers leave the Opera House happily. The next morning, the Phantom leaves a new letter for the managers. “Thank you for leaving box five free yesterday,” it says. “Christine Daaé sings wonderfully!”

The new managers laugh. “This letter comes from the old managers,” they say. That evening, they sell tickets for box five and four people come to sit there that night. But in the dark box, they hear a man’s voice: “Box five is not free!” it says.

Later, Madame Giry, the box attendant, tells the managers. “Be good to the Phantom – or be sorry.”

“She’s crazy,” they think. “We need to find a new attendant for box five.”

Christine stays away from Raoul. He writes a letter to her Paris apartment.

She writes back, “I’m going to my father’s grave in Perros.”

Raoul travels to Perros that day. He finds Christine that night by her father’s grave.

“Who speaks to you in your room at the Opera?” he asks. “The Angel of Music,” Christine answers. “He’s playing my father’s violin here tonight.”

At twelve o’clock, they hear violin music. A man in black clothes and a white mask arrives. He hits Raoul. Raoul falls, and his head hits the floor.

All goes black. He wakes the next morning in his hotel room in Perros. Christine is sitting by his bed.

Things go Wrong at the 3 Chapter Opera

The Opera managers, Richard and Moncharmin, visit box five. Something about the dark box worries them. But they look carefully and find nothing unusual in it. “Let’s watch the opera Faust here on Saturday night,” they say. But on Saturday morning, a new letter arrives from the Phantom.

“Why are you working against me?” it says. “Tonight, I want three things: I must have box five. Madame Giry must be my box attendant, and Christine Daaé – not Carlotta – must sing in the opera. Do all of this, and the opera can go well. Say ‘no’, and things can go badly wrong.”

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

There is something strange living in the Opera House in Paris. Is it a man, or is it a phantom? And how does he talk to people when nobody can see him? And why does Christine call him her Angel of Music?

The tragic story of mystery, love, and death has fascinated people for over a century.

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