| Series: | The Phantom of the Opera |
| First: | The Phantom of the Opera (1909) |
| Image Upright: | 0.9 |
| Creator: | Gaston Leroux |
| Occupation: | Opera Singer |
| Family: | Madame Valérius (adoptive mother) |
| Spouse: | Viscount Raoul de Chagny |
| Nationality: | Swedish |
Christine Daaé is a fictional character and the female protagonist of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and of the various adaptations of the work. Erik, the Phantom of the Opera and Viscount Raoul de Chagny both fall in love with her.
Christine Daaé was born in a town near Uppsala, Sweden. Her mother died when she was six years old. Raised by her father, they travelled through rural Sweden, wandering from fair to fair,[1] where he played the violin and she sang. They were discovered at one of these fairs by Professor Valérius, who took them to Gothenburg and then to Paris, providing for Christine's education.
Christine was extremely close to her father, who told her Scandinavian fairy-tales; the tale of the "Angel of Music" was her favorite. Christine entered the Paris Conservatoire and trained for four years to become an opera singer to please her father and Mamma Valérius, the bedridden wife of the late Professor. However, by the end of the four years, she had lost her passion for singing and the music.
When Christine arrived at the Opéra Garnier, she was described as "sounding like a rusty hinge", but one person found the beauty hidden in her voice. When Erik, the Phantom of the Opera began to tutor her, he told her that he was the "Angel of Music" of whom her father had spoken. She believed him, and he inspired her soul back into her voice. Having been singing small roles with the Opera for some months without making much impression on audiences, Christine had a spectacular success at a gala at the opera in place of the singer Carlotta, who had fallen ill. Christine's singing was described as "seraphic".
Christine became torn between her loyalty and sympathy for her mentor, Erik, and her love for her childhood friend Viscount Raoul de Chagny.
In the Lofficier translation of the novel, Christine's age is given as 15 years old. However, this is a mistranslation of a passage that says her heart was "as pure as that of a 15-year-old". The evidence of Christine's childhood friendship with Raoul, and her studies at the Paris Conservatoire, put her age at 21 years old.
Christine is a chorus / ballet girl, who becomes the object of obsession, passion and love for the mysterious Phantom of the Opera. He becomes her mentor, and with his help, she is chosen to replace the company's prima donna, Carlotta. When she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, the Phantom kidnaps Christine in a jealous rage and drags her down to his lair. She is forced to choose between the Phantom and Raoul, but her compassion for the Phantom moves him to free them both and allow them to flee. In the original West End and Broadway productions, she was portrayed by Sarah Brightman.
The film version of the musical follows the musical's script closely, but Christine's age is reduced. Her gravemark says that she was born in 1854, and the beginning of the movie shows the setting as 1870, making her about 16 years old when the events of the movie take place.
In the novel and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Christine's father's first name is never revealed. In the novel, he is simply referred to as "Daddy" or "Daddy Daaé." In the 2004 movie, he is called Gustave, and in Sarah Brightman's music video version of "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", his name is Charles.
The novel has been adapted several times. The first film iteration was produced in Germany in 1915, with Nils Chrisander (1884–1947) as the Phantom and Aud Egede-Nissen (1893–1974) as Christine. Many critics consider the film of 1925 by Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures as the most successful. The role of the Phantom played here by Lon Chaney. The same studio tried in 1943 with a sound film of Arthur Lubin to follow this success. The film used to a large extent the still existing scenes of the silent film. Claude Rains played the Phantom.
In 1960, a Spanish society turned a very free adaptation of the subject under the title El Fantasma de la Operetta . In 1962, British production company Hammer Films focused on the horror genre.
Another adaptation was produced in 1974 by 20th Century Fox, who moved the event to New York and significantly altered the story to be more Faustian. This film was released as Phantom of the Paradise, with Jessica Harper in the Christine-esque role of Phoenix, and William Finley as the eponymous Phantom.
The 1989 version, Jill Schoelen played Christine opposite Robert Englund in the title role.
In 1998, Italian horror film director Dario Argento cast his daughter Asia as Christine.
In 2004, Joel Schumacher produced a film version inspired by the musical of Andrew Lloyd Webber. This iteration starred Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum as the Phantom and Christine. Originally, there was already a filming based on the musical in the early 1990s, with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman reprising their roles from the stage production as the Phantom and Christine. Brightman was married to Lloyd Webber at the time, but shortly before the planned pre-production the marriage was dissolved and the filming was cancelled.
| Year | Title | Genre | Original Title | Director | Christine Daaé | Title role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | The Phantom of the Opera | Silent drama | The Phantom of the Opera | Ernst Matray | Aud Egede-Nissen | Nils Chrisander | |
| 1925 | The Phantom of the Opera | Horror | The Phantom of the Opera | Rupert Julian | Mary Philbin | Lon Chaney sen. | |
| 1937 | Ye ban ge sheng | Horror | Ye ban ge sheng | Ma-Xu Weibang | Hu Ping | Gu Menghe | |
| 1943 | Phantom of the Opera | Horror, music | Phantom of the Opera | Arthur Lubin | Susanna Foster | Claude Rains | |
| 1962 | The Riddle of the Eerie Mask | Horror | The Phantom of the Opera | Terence Fisher | Heather Sears | Herbert Lom | |
| 1983 | The Phantom of Budapest | Horror | Phantom of the Opera | Robert Markowitz | Jane Seymour | Maximilian Schell | |
| 1987 | The Phantom of the Opera | Horror Animation | The Phantom of the Opera | Al Guest, Jean Mathieson | Collette Proctor | Aiden Grennell | |
| 1989 | The Phantom of the Opera | Horror | Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera | Dwight H. Little | Jill Schoelen | Robert Englund | |
| 1990 | The Phantom of the Opera | Drama Miniseries | Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera | Tony Richardson | Teri Polo | Charles Dance | |
| 1998 | The Phantom of the Opera | Horror | Il Fantasma dell'opera | Dario Argento | Asia Argento | Julian Sands | |
| 2004 | The Phantom of the Opera | Musical | The Phantom of the Opera | Joel Schumacher | Emmy Rossum | Gerard Butler |
| year | title | original title | Director | title role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | The Phantom of Hollywood | The Phantom of Hollywood | Gene Levitt | Jack Cassidy | |
| 1974 | Phantom of the Paradise | Phantom of the Paradise | Brian De Palma | William Finley | |
| 1989 | Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge | Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge | Richard Friedman | Derek Rydall | |
| 1989 | Phantom of the Ritz | Phantom of the Ritz | Allen Plone | Joshua Sussman |
Towards the end of his life, Leroux claimed the character was based on a real opera singer "whose real name I hid under that of Christine Daaé".[2] It is likely he was referring to the Swedish singer Christina Nilsson (1843-1921) (sometimes known as "Christine Nilsson"),[3] whose real life heavily reflects details in the fictitious Christine Daaé's history.[4] [5] Nilsson, like the fictional Daaé, was born in rural Sweden, and both were discovered by a well-to-do patron performing in a Swedish marketplace: Nilsson singing along to her brother's violin playing in Ljungby, Daaé singing along to her father's violin playing in (fictitious) Ljimby. Both were taken under the protection of a family named "Valerius" in Gothenburg, and both were brought to Paris by their respective patrons for operatic training.[6] [7] [8] Even the rivalry between the youthful and inexperienced Christine Daaé and the seasoned veteran diva Mme Carlotta, and specifically the replacement of Carlotta with Daaé in the role of Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, loosely reflects the public competition between Christina Nilsson and the older Caroline Miolan-Carvalho over the role at the Paris Opera in 1868-1869,[9] [10] even to the point of using ideas and language from contemporary reviews of Nilsson's performances.[11] [12]
The first actress to portray Christine Daaé was Aud Egede-Nissen in the 1916 German silent version by Ernst Matray, Das Gespenst im Opernhaus or Das Phantom der Oper.