The events in question go back…to 1879…or do they?

An idea occurred to me several months ago, to determine once and for all the date that the story takes place. I knew that other people had tried to figure it out, but I couldn’t find a run down of the passages they had examined and how they had come to the conclusions they had.

I thought it was pretty straightforward. Just lay out all the dates, the add them up and see what date I could come up with. I was doing pretty good and found that the dates lined up for 1883. Although the book says it was 30 years ago, I figured 26 was close. I published my conclusions and went on to work on other PTO things.

Then, I was working on a event by event timeline, as opposed to trying to determine just the year, when I realized my calculations were off. I looked over the dates again and this time decided that the year must have been 1877, or 32 years before. It made sense, all the dates seemed to line up. I amended my article and went back to working on other things.

When it came time to formally type up my notes on the event by event timeline, along with the appropriate passages to support these conclusions, I once again realized my year was off. Unfortunately, this time, I couldn’t make the dates fit. And, unfortunately, I think this time, my calculations are finally correct. It’s not possible to determine exactly when the story took place.

We can get close, and I choose 1879 as the year for two reasons:

1. That was 30 years before the date that the first installment of the story was published.
2. It’s one of the two possible years when the dates line up the closest. They are only a week apart.

So, once more I have amended my conclusions to further explain the points above, and also explain why I’m choosing to go with the year 1879 for purposes of giving a date in the event by event timeline. If, as you read this, you see that my calculations are still off, please let me know in the comments. Since I’ve done it wrong twice now, I can believe I’m still missing a piece. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading my analysis and can agree with me that 1879 is logical.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I. First, let me say that I used the following as resources: 

4 translations of the French:

1. The Phantom of the Opera original translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (TdM)
2. The Phantom of the Opera new translation by Lowell Bair (LB)
3. The Essential Phantom of the Opera by Leonard Wolf (LW) (now out of print)
4. The Phantom of the Opera adapted by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier (RL)

Original French – can be found at ebooksgratuits. (GL)

Notes on translations:

1. I have included notes as to where certain dates can be found or referenced. Given so many different printings of the TdM translation, references from this translation include chapter number only, since page numbers are unlikely to match across printings. References from other translations do include page number.
2. At the time of writing, I had only 4 translations. I have since added a 5th translation that may be quoted in other analysis on this site.
3. I don’t speak or read French. However, I had enough French in Middle School and High School to be able to find the relevant passage. Translations where necessary were via a comparison of Google and Yahoo.

II. Second, the dates that we are given:

• January 10th – the date of the farewell gala performance [Source: TdM, Chapter 4; The managers receive a note of thanks from Erik. “MM Debienne and Poligny have sent me the 6575 fr 30 representing the first ten days of my allowance for the current year; their privileges finished on the evening of the 10th.”]
• January 25th – the date that the managers get the first notes from Erik. They send tickets to the previous managers for that evening’s performance. Of course, they do not attend. [Source: This is not in TdM; however, it is in the other translations, at least one example of how the TdM version is an abbreviation. LW, page 65, “I beg you to believe that that evening, the evening of January 25, our two directors, fatigued by tempers, intrigues, recommendations…went to bed early without even the curiosity to cast a glance in the direction of Loge Number 5 to see whether Messrs. Debienne and Poligny found the performance to their taste.”]
• January 26th – the next day. The new managers get 2 letters – 1 from Erik thanking them for giving him his box, the second from the previous managers with a thanks for the tickets, but we have no right to sit in that box. Richard and Moncharmin rent the box that night. [Source: TdM, Chapter 4; “…to see whether M Debienne and M Poligny were enjoying the performance. Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost:…”]
• January 27th – the next day. The managers come in and find a report from the inspector about laughing the evening before coming from Box 5. The managers talk to the inspector and Mdm. Giry then go to box 5 for themselves. They say that on Saturday they will watch the performance from box 5. [Source: TdM, Chapter 4; “Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost:…And, that evening, Box 5 was sold. The next morning, MM Richard and Moncharmin, on reaching their office, found an inspector’s report…” TdM, Chapter 6, “We left M Firmin Richard and M Armand Moncharmin at the moment when they were deciding to ‘look into that little matter of Box 5….’It will be Faust on Saturday: let us both watch the performance from Box 5 on the grand tier.'”]

III. Third, the date/time reference we are given without a specific date:

• The Saturday that Richard and Moncharmin watch Faust from box 5 is the night the chandelier crashes. It is also the night after which Christine disappears for 2 weeks. [Source: TdM, Chapter 8, “That tragic evening was a bad one for all concerned. Carlotta fell ill. As for Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. A fortnight elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera nor outside the Opera.”]
• When Christine appears again it is the night of the masked ball. [Source: TdM, Chapter 12, almost to the end, Christine is talking to Raoul on the roof of the Opera House, “…What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy….It went on for a fortnight…a fortnight during which I lied to him….Then, at last, after a fortnight of this horrible captivity, during which I was filled with pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, he believed me when I said ‘I will come back!’…’Christine,’ said Raoul, rising, ‘you tell me that you love me; but had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you returned to Erik!…Remember the masked ball!'”]
• The masked ball is said to be just before Shrovetide [Source: See section A below for location] – on Saturday, Shrovetide being the three days before Ash Wednesday. [Source: 1. Dictionary.com and 2. Oxford Dictionaries]

Let me stop here and explain exactly what leads me to say that the masked ball is on a Saturday. First, there is going at the date forward – Christine disappeared on a Saturday for 2 weeks. Therefore, the date she comes back is clearly also a Saturday. Second, there is going at the date backwards. Again, Shrovetide is the three days before Ash Wednesday. So, just before Shrovetide would be Saturday.

But which Saturday? For that we have to look at the sentence where Leroux tells us the timing of the ball. First, the “just before” section, and second, the “Shrovetide”.

A. …just before…

The translations differ here:

1. TdM = “This ball was an exceptional affair; given some time before Shrovetide…” [Chapter 9]
2. LB = “The ball was a special celebration, given just before Shrovetide…” [Page 97]
3. LW = “This ball was of a special sort, given just before Shroventide…” [Page 135]
4. RL = “This Opera ball was an exceptional affair given just before Mardi Gras…” [Page 133]

Original French is “Ce bal était une fête exceptionnelle, donnée avant”: [GL page 141]

1. Google = The ball was an exceptional celebration, given before
2. And, for the sake of research, Yahoo = This ball was an exceptional festival, front data (? – not sure what happened here)
3. Free Translation Online = This ball was a special holiday, given before

Using an online translator, you can see that Leroux states that the ball was before Shrovetide. Interestingly, 3 of the 4 human translators choose to translate this as “just before”.

On the one hand, Leroux seems to enjoy being vague with his timing. On the other hand, he is quite clear about some dates, including that it was two weeks that Christine was missing. He also makes a point of saying that the ball was before Shrovetide. Since he is referencing a particular holiday, it is obviously important. Therefore, it seems quite reasonable to conclude that Leroux was referring to the day before, or perhaps a few days before. Any longer than that and he would not have had a reason to reference Shrovetide at all.

And, remember, a few days before Shrovetide would have put the ball in the middle of the week, when we already know it was on a Saturday.

B. “Shrovetide”

The original French says that the ball was just before “les jours gras”. Translations include:

1. TdM = Shrovetide
2. LB = Shrovetide
3. LW = Shroventide
4. RL = Mardi Gras
5. Google = Shrovetide
6. Yahoo = Fatty Days

True, the phrase in French does literally translate as “fatty days”. Here’s why I think that RL is wrong. And, why Leroux definitely meant several days before Ash Wednesday.

1. 3 translators (human) and one translator (computerized dictionary) translate it as “Shrovetide.”
2. The original French specifically refers to “days” – plural. Mardi Gras is a single day.
3. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. If M. Leroux had meant the single day of Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, he would have said “Mardi Gras”, but he didn’t.

Update: The days of Shrovetide are what throw off the ability to determine the date. The only way the dates line up is if Shrovetide is actually longer than the three days leading up to Ash Wednesday. Interestingly enough, there is slight support for this.

When researching the days constituting Shrovetide, I came across information about “Shrove Thursday”, also called “Pancake Thursday.” This is the Thursday preceding Ash Wednesday. However, this appears to only be a Polish celebration. Yet, celebrating on Thursday isn’t even a hard and fast rule for Polish communities. According to Wikipedia, large Polish populations in America celebrate this day on Shrove Tuesday, or Shove Thursday. [Source 1. Wikipedia. Source 2. Shrovetide] While I attempted to find out if this tradition was celebrated elsewhere in Europe, or among other ethnic groups, I could find no evidence. Everything else reiterated the idea that Shrovetide is only Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

If, and I stress if, France does (or did) partake of Shrove Thursday, this means that Shrovetide would actually be 6 days long. This would allow the Saturday before Shrovetide to be 5 days previous, therefore meaning that the dates would match up.

IV. The events in question…

In the introduction, Leroux’s narrator tells how long ago these events took place. The French is “Les événements ne datent guère que d’une  trentaine d’années” : [GL page 5]

1. TdM = The events do not date more than thirty years back [Introduction]
2. LB = The events in question go back only thirty years [Page 1]
3. LW = The events take place not much more than thirty years ago [Page 22]
4. RL = The events that I am about to record occurred about thirty years ago [Page 7]
5. Google translates that as: “Events do not date back as three decades”
6. Yahoo translates it as: “The events hardly go back but to one about thirty years”

The literal translation is awkward, certainly. But, combined with the other translations, it’s not a stretch to say that the 30 years isn’t exact, therefore giving us more years to investigate.

V. Laying all the dates out side by side

The “book” actually was first published as a serial in a French newspaper. The first installment was on September 23, 1909. [Source: The first installment from Bibliothèque Nationale de France on 9-23-09.]

As you can see from the scan referenced in the note above (compare it to the subtitle in the French, linked to above), the first installment was of the Prologue, where the narrator reveals the 30 years. Therefore, we know that the 30 years has been part of the story from the beginning in 1909.

We also know that the Opera House opened in January of 1875, and Christine had been being taught for 3 months, so clearly 1875 is out. [Source: One reference for opening of Opera House: Wikipedia

Reference for 3 months Christine has been tutored: “About three months…Yes, it’s quite three months since he began to give her lessons.” – Madame Valerius, TdM Chapter VII (8)]

Plus, the events certainly seem to indicate that it has been a few years at least that the opera has been open.

So, with all of these dates, we need to look at 1879 [1909 – 30] as a start. “Not much more than 30 years” could give us 1878 [1909 – 31] and 1877 [1909 – 32] as well. Then, “about 30 years” and “not…more than” 30 years could have us looking at the early 1880s also [1880 = 1909 – 29; 1881 = 1909 – 28; 1882 = 1909 – 27].

Dates with Shrovetide starting on Sunday:

Event [Source: U.S. Naval Observatory website]	1877	1878	1879	1880	1881	1882
January 25	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun	Tues	Wed
January 26	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Wed	Thurs
January 27	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tues	Thurs	Fri
following Saturday (chandelier drops)	2/3	2/2	2/1	1/31	1/29	1/28
2 weeks later (night of ball)	2/17	2/16	2/15	2/14	2/12	2/11
both Saturdays the same date?	No	No	No	No	No	No
Sat before Shrovetide	2/10	3/2	2/22	2/7	2/26	2/18
Ash Wednesday	2/14	3/6	2/26	2/11	3/2	2/22

 

Dates with Shrovetide starting on Thursday:

Event	1877	1878	1879	1880	1881	1882
January 25	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun	Tues	Wed
January 26	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Wed	Thurs
January 27	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tues	Thurs	Fri
following Saturday (chandelier drops)	2/3	2/2	2/1	1/31	1/29	1/28
2 weeks later (night of ball)	2/17	2/16	2/15	2/14	2/12	2/11
both Saturdays the same date?	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Sat before Shrovetide	2/3	3/23	2/15	1/31	2/19	2/11
Ash Wednesday	2/14	3/6	2/26	2/11	3/2	2/22

 

VI. Conclusion

As you can see, the most likely date is 1879. We have to look at a Polish tradition, probably not celebrated in France, to get the dates to match up exactly. But, at only one week off, 1879 is the closest since it is exactly 30 years.

1882 is the next best year that the dates match up, again being only one week early. However, this is 27 years, not 30, so 1879 is a better fit. If 1882 had matched up exactly, we could say that the 30 years was a fudge date to throw us off, and we could determine the real year. Sadly, that’s not the case.

Leroux gives us a lot of clues, including the actual dates of January 10, and January 25. He also references the chandelier dropping on a Saturday, Christine being gone for two weeks, and Shrovetide. This is just enough clues to give us the era, if not the exact year.

Why does Leroux do this? That’s a question I answer in Why Was Gaston Leroux Vague About The Year?