This is a well-known story about a deranged musical genius hiding in the catacombs under the Paris Opera which explores the ultimate difference between true love and obsessive possessiveness masquerading — in this case, literally — as true love. There is a big difference between genuinely loving and accepting someone for who and what they are, and, on the other hand, regarding another person as an object to be possessed, to be owned, as putty to be shaped to fit the fantasy of the one obsessed, and in reality, as only an extension of the obsessed-one’s own ego. The Phantom of the Opera is a metaphor for that obsessive possessive so-called love that ultimately — if given free reign — destroys its own avowed “beloved.”

Webber’s music is familiar by now, and although there are other – and some, in many respects, more interesting – musical versions of this gripping and sometimes terrifying tale, his is the one we all know. You have heard this music so often you will likely recognize and anticipate every note – but it still chills the heart!

To purchase the piano music for selections from The Phantom of the Opera, click here for Vocal Selections – Souvenir Edition (voice and piano), or click here for Easy Piano Selections (voice, piano and guitar – chords only).

For a recording of all the songs you love, check this out: