The Phantom of the Opera- The Point of No Return

Alright, I admit it. I’m only blogging on this piece so that I can add it to my jumbled string of melodies for tomorrow. As I’m sure many of you know, the DVD of Phantom of the Opera came out last week, and after watching it Friday, I’ve had the melody stuck in my head since, which would explain why I had the desire to add it to my melody transcriptions. So why do I have it so stuck in my head. For one thing it’s very beautiful and sensual. But aside from that, it is the simplicity of both the melody and it’s accompaniment, allowing any feeble mind to recall it and sing it inside. The accompanying strings serve only as a compliment and follow the voice to give it the haunting sound. Of particular concern to me was obvious the main melody, which comprises the A section, and is repeated twice by the phantom. However, another thing of interest in this piece is the changes of voices and tone, which adds to the feeling of two battling forces of good and evil. After the phantom finishes the A melody, which represents the calling of the dark side, with the marching pace of the strings illustrating Christine’s mesmerized walk towards the phantom. Then, in the B section, Christine sings a new melody with a different tone, that is much less smooth and melodic (her exaggerated vibrato adds to the shaky feeling and inner imbalance, representing her inner questioning as she chooses. In the final cadence, as the music sinks lower and lower and returns to the haunting minor mode, she has made her decision to go to the Phantom. She now sings the “Past the Point of no Return” A section, residing back into the mesmerized death march towards her destiny, now accompanied with drums, and with each accented beat leading to her dissension further and further into the depths of darkness. Then the Phantom voice comes in, and each sing a duet of the A melody. This signifies an arrival into the arms of the Phantom, and a final few notes on strings as a closing section signify that it is over (of course, the music turns out to be wrong as it couldn’t fight off a force stronger than darkness, a fairy tail ending, as we find out later that the handsome guy ends up with the pretty girl… who’d of thunk it. I always knew the Phantom would remain without a bride.