📖 Literary Background – From Poem to Phantom

In Andreas Munch’s poem Den første sorg (The First Sorrow), Little Lotte is a bright, imaginative child. She delights in nature, especially a bird she cherishes, but experiences her first grief when the bird dies — marking her passage from innocence into sorrow.

📜 Excerpt from the Original Poem

Den lille Lotte tenkte på alt og ingenting
en sommerfugl hun svevet i solens gull omkring,
i sine gule lokker hun vårens krone bar,
som hennes blikk var sjelen så lyseblå og klar

(English translation via Norwegian Wikipedia and ChatGPT)

The little Lotte thought of everything and nothing
Like a butterfly she drifted through the sun’s golden light
In her golden curls she wore the crown of spring
And like her gaze, her soul was clear and sky-blue bright

🎭 In the Musical

In The Phantom of the Opera, Raoul recalls Christine as “Little Lotte,” directly quoting Munch’s lines. The nickname frames Christine as pure and vulnerable, suspended between childhood memory and adult desire.

📌 Why It Matters

The reference adds cultural and emotional depth to the story. Christine is not just a romantic heroine but a figure caught between innocence, artistic inspiration, and awakening maturity. By invoking a real 19th-century poem, the musical layers Christine’s arc with themes of memory, loss, and longing that resonate beyond the immediate plot.