The song is performed in Act One after the song "Angel of Music" (The Mirror) and before "The Music of the Night" (and is reprised in Act Two at the end of the song "Notes/Twisted Every Way"). It takes place as the Phantom escorts Christine by boat to his lair beneath the Opera Garnier. It is sung as a duet by Christine and the Phantom. In this song, Christine sings her highest note in the show, an E6, at the end of the song. In different shows, Sarah Brightman sings this song in different duets with other performers Steve Harley, Antonio Banderas, Chris Thompson, Alessandro Safina and Mario Frangoulis.
What makes this particular song unique is its unusual hard rock style, while most of the songs in the musical have a more operatic style. Early in the musical's production, Andrew Lloyd Webber met Jim Steinman, who described "The Phantom of the Opera" as a rock song invading an opera house. This is what inspired the hard rock style of the song, which influenced all of the rock-based instruments in the song including drums and electric guitar.
"The Phantom of the Opera" song was also specially arranged by the show's original orchestrator, David Cullen, for a virtuoso cello version for cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, Andrew's brother, for the CD Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber.
The song "The Phantom of the Opera" was covered in 2002 by the Finnish symphonic power metal quintet Nightwish and released on the album Century Child. This particular version of the song, with Tarja Turunen (soprano) singing Christine's part and Marco Hietala (baritone/tenor) singing the part of The Phantom, is set in a different register to the original version written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. On the recorded version, the female vocalisation at the end of the song is slightly different from the original, however, when the song is performed live, the vocalisation is the same. There is also another gothic metal version released in 1999 by Austrian band Dreams of Sanity(Masquerade album)
The song was also covered by Israeli contratenor David D'Or, backed by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, on David D’Or & the Philharmonic; Live Concert, released on April 1, 2003.
Power metal band HolyHell also covered the song, with Eric Adams of Manowar making a guest appearance singing the part of The Phantom.
The song was also covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their show-tune album, Are A Drag. Also, in Rufus Wainwright's song "Between My Legs", from the album Release the Stars, the last 30 seconds plays the main theme from this song. The song was also covered by X Factor finalist, Rhydian Roberts, for which Lord Lloyd Webber wrote a male solo version specially for the artist.
The famous opening pipe organ section is very similar to a section in Rick Wakeman's instrumental "Judas Iscariot" - a track from the album Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record, released some 9 years before Phantom Of The Opera. Wakeman mentioned this fact during his Grumpy Old Picture Show tour, indicating that Tim Rice may have been the link between the two songs.
Ray Repp sued Andrew Lloyd Webber over the main melody of Phantom, claiming that it was based on his folk song "Till You" which he recorded in 1978. Webber won the case however, with the counter-claim that the section of "Phantom" in question was actually based on Webber's "Close Every Door", which was written before Till You.
In addition, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd had asserted that Andrew Lloyd Webber had plagiarized the intro section from the Pink Floyd song "Echoes", which largely resembles it, although he decided against filing a lawsuit.
"Yeah, the beginning of that bloody Phantom song is from Echoes. *DAAAA-da-da-da-da-da* . I couldn't believe it when I heard it. It's the same time signature - it's 12/8 - and it's the same structure and it's the same notes and it's the same everything. Bastard. It probably is actionable. It really is! But I think that life's too long to bother with suing Andrew fucking Lloyd Webber."
The beginning melody for this song was also used in the Alice Cooper concert DVD Live in Montreux before the song "Department of Youth".
Richard Clayderman has also arranged a piano-orchestral version of the song; originally found in his album The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
What makes this particular song unique is its unusual hard rock style, while most of the songs in the musical have a more operatic style. Early in the musical's production, Andrew Lloyd Webber met Jim Steinman, who described "The Phantom of the Opera" as a rock song invading an opera house. This is what inspired the hard rock style of the song, which influenced all of the rock-based instruments in the song including drums and electric guitar.
"The Phantom of the Opera" song was also specially arranged by the show's original orchestrator, David Cullen, for a virtuoso cello version for cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, Andrew's brother, for the CD Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber.
The song "The Phantom of the Opera" was covered in 2002 by the Finnish symphonic power metal quintet Nightwish and released on the album Century Child. This particular version of the song, with Tarja Turunen (soprano) singing Christine's part and Marco Hietala (baritone/tenor) singing the part of The Phantom, is set in a different register to the original version written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. On the recorded version, the female vocalisation at the end of the song is slightly different from the original, however, when the song is performed live, the vocalisation is the same. There is also another gothic metal version released in 1999 by Austrian band Dreams of Sanity(Masquerade album)
The song was also covered by Israeli contratenor David D'Or, backed by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, on David D’Or & the Philharmonic; Live Concert, released on April 1, 2003.
Power metal band HolyHell also covered the song, with Eric Adams of Manowar making a guest appearance singing the part of The Phantom.
The song was also covered by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their show-tune album, Are A Drag. Also, in Rufus Wainwright's song "Between My Legs", from the album Release the Stars, the last 30 seconds plays the main theme from this song. The song was also covered by X Factor finalist, Rhydian Roberts, for which Lord Lloyd Webber wrote a male solo version specially for the artist.
The famous opening pipe organ section is very similar to a section in Rick Wakeman's instrumental "Judas Iscariot" - a track from the album Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record, released some 9 years before Phantom Of The Opera. Wakeman mentioned this fact during his Grumpy Old Picture Show tour, indicating that Tim Rice may have been the link between the two songs.
Ray Repp sued Andrew Lloyd Webber over the main melody of Phantom, claiming that it was based on his folk song "Till You" which he recorded in 1978. Webber won the case however, with the counter-claim that the section of "Phantom" in question was actually based on Webber's "Close Every Door", which was written before Till You.
In addition, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd had asserted that Andrew Lloyd Webber had plagiarized the intro section from the Pink Floyd song "Echoes", which largely resembles it, although he decided against filing a lawsuit.
"Yeah, the beginning of that bloody Phantom song is from Echoes. *DAAAA-da-da-da-da-da* . I couldn't believe it when I heard it. It's the same time signature - it's 12/8 - and it's the same structure and it's the same notes and it's the same everything. Bastard. It probably is actionable. It really is! But I think that life's too long to bother with suing Andrew fucking Lloyd Webber."
The beginning melody for this song was also used in the Alice Cooper concert DVD Live in Montreux before the song "Department of Youth".
Richard Clayderman has also arranged a piano-orchestral version of the song; originally found in his album The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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