Lowell Bair
Translator
1990
Bantam Classic Edition
Paperback
buy here ⚜⚜⚜⚜
Different covers and Translations
Translations and Errors
Bantam Classic Edition
Paperback
buy here ⚜⚜⚜⚜
Different covers and Translations
Translations and Errors
Chapter Titles
Foreword, In Which the Author of This Singular Work Tells the Reader How He
Was Led to Become Certain that the Opera Ghost Really Existed
1 Was it the Ghost?
2 The New Marguerite
3 In Which, for the First Time, Debienne and Poligny Secretly Give the New
Managers of the Opera, Armand Moncharmin and Firmin
Richard, the Real and Mysterious Reason for Their Departure from the National
Academy of Music
4 "Box Five"
5 Continuation of "Box Five"
6 The Enchanted Violin
7 A Visit to Box Five
8 In Which Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin Dare to Have Faust Performed in a "Cursed" Opera House, and We See the Frightful Consequences
9 The Mysterious Brougham
10 At The Masked Ball
11 You Must Forget the Name of "the Man's Voice"
12 Above the Trapdoors
13 Apollo’s Lyre
14 A Masterstroke by the Lover of Trapdoors
15 The Singular Behavior of a Safety Pin
16 "Christine! Christine!"
17 Astonishing Revelations Madame Giry, Concerning Her Personal Relation with Opera Ghost
18 Continuation of "The Singular Behavior of a Safety Pin"
19 The Policeman, the Viscount and the Persian
20 The Viscount and the Persian
21 In the Cellars of the Opera
22 Interesting and instructive Tribulations of a
Persian in the Cellars of the Opera
23 In the Torture Chamber
24 The Tortures Begin
25 "Barrels! Barrels! Any Barrels to Sale?"
26 The Scorpion or the Grasshopper?
27 End of the Ghost's Love Story
Epilogue
Foreword, In Which the Author of This Singular Work Tells the Reader How He
Was Led to Become Certain that the Opera Ghost Really Existed
1 Was it the Ghost?
2 The New Marguerite
3 In Which, for the First Time, Debienne and Poligny Secretly Give the New
Managers of the Opera, Armand Moncharmin and Firmin
Richard, the Real and Mysterious Reason for Their Departure from the National
Academy of Music
4 "Box Five"
5 Continuation of "Box Five"
6 The Enchanted Violin
7 A Visit to Box Five
8 In Which Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin Dare to Have Faust Performed in a "Cursed" Opera House, and We See the Frightful Consequences
9 The Mysterious Brougham
10 At The Masked Ball
11 You Must Forget the Name of "the Man's Voice"
12 Above the Trapdoors
13 Apollo’s Lyre
14 A Masterstroke by the Lover of Trapdoors
15 The Singular Behavior of a Safety Pin
16 "Christine! Christine!"
17 Astonishing Revelations Madame Giry, Concerning Her Personal Relation with Opera Ghost
18 Continuation of "The Singular Behavior of a Safety Pin"
19 The Policeman, the Viscount and the Persian
20 The Viscount and the Persian
21 In the Cellars of the Opera
22 Interesting and instructive Tribulations of a
Persian in the Cellars of the Opera
23 In the Torture Chamber
24 The Tortures Begin
25 "Barrels! Barrels! Any Barrels to Sale?"
26 The Scorpion or the Grasshopper?
27 End of the Ghost's Love Story
Epilogue
Differences
Which Translation do you have?
A good way to tell is the opening paragraph of the book
A good way to tell is the opening paragraph of the book
Gaston Leroux
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Lowell Bair
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Le fantôme de l’Opéra a existé. Ce ne fut point, comme on l’a cru longtemps, une inspiration d’artistes, une superstition de directeurs, la création falote des cervelles excitées de ces demoiselles du corps de ballet, de leurs mères, des ouvreuses, des employés du vestiaire et de la concierge.
Oui, il a existé, en chair et en os, bien qu’il se donnât toutes les apparences d’un vrai fantôme, c’est-à-dire d’une ombre. |
"THE GHOST IN the Paris Opera existed. He was not, as was long believed, a delusion of the singers, a superstition of the managers, or a ludicrous fantasy concocted by the overheated brains of the dancers in the corps de ballet, their mothers, the ushers, the cloakroom attendants, and the concierge.
Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, even though he gave himself every appearance of a real ghost, a true phantom." |
The “fantôme de l’Opéra” did really exist. He was not, as was long believed, an invention of the performer’s imaginations, a superstition of the managing directors, or a creation from the easily excited and impressionable minds of the young ladies of the Corps de Ballet, or of their mothers, the box keepers, ushers, the cloakroom attendants, or the concierge.
Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he did take on the persona of a real ghost; that is to say, a of kind spectral shadow spirit |
Noteworthy Changes
NOTES : One of the better translations out there. It is more faithful to the original French with some mistakes still inherited from de Mattos. It should also be noted that Bair cannot be considered completely unabridged because he left out a whole paragraph as stated by Carrie Hernández in POTO Millennium edition.
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Gaston Leroux
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Lowell Bair
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Quand je me réveillai, j’étais seule, sur une chaise longue, dans une petite chambre toute simple, garnie d’un lit banal en acajou, aux murs tendus de toile de Jouy,
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When I woke up I was alone, on a chaise longue in a simple little bedroom with an ordinary mahogany bed. There were cretonne hangings on the walls...
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When I awoke, I was alone, laying on a chaise lounge in a small simple room furnished with an ordinary mahogany bed. The walls were all hung with Toile de Jouy
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Gaston Leroux
« Ce soir-là, nous n’échangeâmes plus une parole… Il avait saisi une harpe et il commença de me chanter, lui, voix d’homme, voix d’ange, la romance de Desdémone. Le souvenir que j’en avais de l’avoir chantée moi-même me rendait honteuse. Mon ami, il y a une vertu dans la musique qui fait que rien n’existe plus du monde extérieur en dehors de ces sons qui vous viennent frapper le coeur. Mon extravagante aventure fut oubliée. Seule revivait la voix et je la suivais enivrée dans son voyage harmonieux ; je faisais partie du troupeau d’Orphée ! Elle me promena dans la douleur, et dans la joie, dans le martyre, dans le désespoir, dans l’allégresse, dans la mort et dans les triomphants hyménées… j’écoutais… Elle chantait… Elle me chanta des morceaux inconnus… et me fit entendre une musique nouvelle qui me causa une étrange impression de douceur, de langueur, de repos… une musique qui, après avoir soulevé mon âme, l’apaisa peu à peu, et la conduisit jusqu’au seuil du rêve. Je m’endormis. . . . . . « Quand je me réveillai, j’étais seule, sur une chaise longue, dans une petite chambre...» |
Lowell Bair
...And I listened...... and I stayed! . "We said nothing more to each other for the rest of the evening. He took a harp, and he the man's voice, the angel's voice, began singing Desdemona's love song to me. My memory of having sung it myself made me feel ashamed. Music has the power to abolish everything in the outside world except its sounds, which go straight to the heart. My bizarre adventure was forgotten. The Voice had come to life again and I followed it, enraptured, on its harmonious journey; belonged to Orpheus's flock! It took me into sorrow, joy, martyrdom, despair, bliss, death, and triumphant nuptials. I listened, it sang; it sang unknown pieces to me, and new music that gave me a strange impression of gentleness, languor, and peace, music that stirred my soul, then gradually soothed it and led it to the threshold of a dream. I feel asleep. . . . . . . . . "When I woke up I was alone, on a chaise lounge in a simple little bedroom... |
PT Translation
... And I listen to him ... and I stayed! . “That evening, we did not exchange a word... He had taken up a harp. ‘It’... the man’s voice, the voice of an angel began to sing to me, ‘The Romance of Desdemona’ The memory I had, of singing it myself, made me ashamed. My friend, music has a quality that makes one forget the outside world, apart from those sounds that impress upon the heart. My wild adventure was all but forgotten. Only the voice and I existed. Intoxicated, I followed where ever its harmony led me. It was as though suddenly, I became part of Orpheus’s flock! It’s triumphant hymns, walked me through sorrow then on to ecstasy, down the path of martyrdom and through the pain of despair, to the highs of elation, and then finally to death... I listened ... and the voice than sang to me, an unfamiliar pieces ... and I heard music like nothing I had ever heard before. It caused in me an unusual feeling, a sweet euphoria washed over me, a kind of languishing. The soft music lifted my soul, soothed it as it wrapped it in sound, and I was brought to the threshold of dreams. That is when I fell asleep.” “When I awoke, I was alone, laying on a chaise lounge in a small simple room |
Gaston Leroux
«...on dit communément d’elle que c’est “une belle créature» Ses cheveux blonds et purs comme l’or couronnent un front mat au-dessous duquel s’enchâssent deux yeux d’émeraude. Sa tête se balance mollement...» |
Lowell Bair
...it is commonly said of her that she is "a lovely creature." . . . Her head sways gently... |
PT Translation
she is commonly referred to as “a lovely creature”, her fair hair is as pure as gold and crowns a flat forehead bellow which sits two emerald eyes. Her head sways softly like the long neck of an egret, elegant and very proud. |
NOTES: From the chapter At the Masked Ball/ Le bal Masqué
Gaston Leroux
«Ne me touchez pas! Je suis la Mort rouge qui passe!...» |
Bair
"Do not touch me! I am Red passing by!" |
NOTES: Interesting and Instructive Tribulations of a Persian in the Underground of the Opera: (notice the difference through out all the translations)
de Mattos
“My duty, you great booby!...It is my wish... my wish to let her go |
Gaston Leroux
– Mon devoir, immense niais ! – (textuel). – C’est ma volonté… ma volonté de la laisser partir, |
PT Translation
‘My duty, immense ninny! - (verbatim). - It is my desire... my wish to let her go, |
Lowell Bair
My duty, you immense simpleton [sic]. is my will, my will to let her leave, |