Фантомът на операта

Predslov

Foreword

V ktorom autor tohto zvláštneho diela rozpráva čitateľovi, ako dospel k istote, že fantóm opery skutočne jestvoval

In Which the Author of This Singular Work Relates to the Reader How He Came to Acquire the Certainty That the Phantom of the Opera Really Existed

Fantóm Opery jestvoval.

The Phantom of the Opera existed.

Nebol to vôbec,

He was not,

ako sa dlho verilo,

as was long believed,

výmysel umelcov,

an inspiration of artists,

povera riaditeľov,

a superstition of managers,

bláznivý výtvor rozpálených mozgov slečien z baletného zboru,

the wan creation of the excited brains of those young ladies of the corps de ballet,

ich matiek,

of their mothers,

uvádzačiek,

of the box-keepers,

zamestnancov šatne a domovníčky.

of the cloakroom attendants and of the concierge.

Áno,

Yes,

jestvoval,

he existed,

z mäsa a kostí,

in flesh and blood,

hoci si dával všetko zdanie ozajstného fantóma,

although he assumed every appearance of a true phantom,

čiže tieňa.

that is to say, of a shade.

Hneď ako som začal prehŕňať sa v archívoch Národnej hudobnej akadémie, ohromila ma prekvapujúca zhoda medzi javmi pripisovanými

I had been struck, from the moment I began to go through the archives of the National Academy of Music, by the surprising coincidence between the phenomena attributed to the

fantómovi

phantom,

a najtajomnejšou,

and the most mysterious,

najfantastickejšou z drám, a čoskoro ma to malo priviesť k myšlienke, že by sa azda dala tá druhá rozumne vysvetliť tou prvou.

the most fantastic of dramas, and I was soon to be led to the idea that the latter might perhaps be rationally explained by the former.

Udalosti sú staré sotva tridsať rokov a ani dnes by nebolo ťažké nájsť,

The events date back scarcely thirty years, and it would not be difficult to find even today,

práve v tanečnom foyeri,

in the very foyer of the ballet,

veľmi úctyhodných starcov,

highly respectable old men,

o ktorých slove by nikto nepochyboval,

whose word could not be doubted,

čo si pamätajú, akoby sa to zbehlo včera,

who remember, as though the thing had happened yesterday,

tajomné a tragické okolnosti, ktoré sprevádzali únos Christine Daaéovej,

the mysterious and tragic circumstances that attended the abduction of Christine Daaé,

zmiznutie vikomta de Chagny a smrť jeho staršieho brata, grófa Philippa,

the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe,

ktorého telo našli na brehu jazera rozprestierajúceho sa v podzemí Opery,

whose body was found on the bank of the lake that lies in the cellars of the Opera,

na strane ulice Scribe.

on the Rue Scribe side.

Ale nikomu z tých svedkov dosiaľ neprišlo na um primiešať do toho hrozného príbehu skôr legendárnu postavu fantóma Opery.

But none of these witnesses had until this day thought it necessary to connect with that dreadful affair the rather legendary figure of the Phantom of the Opera.