Hermann Helmholtz, “On the Sensations of Tone (As a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music))”, 1863 was the topic of an earlier blog post. Here I present Gaston Leroux, “The Phantom of the Opera”, 1910 as an example of a “soft” science-fiction novel. “Human sciences” of linguistics, musicology, anthropology and psychology are “soft sciences”; in contrast “natural sciences” of astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology are “hard sciences”. In the genre, of Science-Fiction these sciences both “soft” and “hard” are a dichotomy classification. Gaston Leroux, “The Phantom of the Opera”, 1910 is “soft” science-fiction of a musicology novel. “Palais Garnier” is an opera-house set in 1880’s Paris, France, and this the “musicological set” of the story. “Palais Garnier’opera house is a “haunted house” due a stagehand that was found hanged. The protagonist is “Christine”, a young soprano; and the “title character (Phantom) is “Erik”. Christine is to sing the lead role of “Marguerite” in opera “Faust”, but the new managers of the “Palais Garnier wil not allow her this singing role. A letter is sent to the managers of the “Palais Garnier” opera-house demanding that “Christine” sing the lead role in the opera “Faust”. The “Palais Garnier” managers ignore the letter, and experience “disastrous consequences”. The chandelier drops into the audience killing spectators, during the performance of “Faust”. Erik, the title-character Phantom abducts the soprano Christine from her dressing room. Phantom of the Opera, “Erik” is a deformed man, and film adaption of the title is played by “Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1925 silent-film. Gaston Leroux, “The Phantom of the Opera”, 1910 along with, Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus”, 1818 are science-fiction genre creating subgenre “horror”.
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