Fourth Concert of the 66th Season

What can one say about The Sound of Music? At its debut, Time magazine quipped, "It doesn't sound like music." But then, Time's reaction to I Am a Camera was "No Leica." When faced with a choice between a clever jab and an honest reaction to a production, Time sometimes opts for witty superficiality. The Sound of Music was a tremendous success, both as a stage production, and later as a film.

The story stems from an autobiography of Maria von Trapp, which was made into a German movie called Die Trapp-Familie, so successful that it was followed by Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika. It was referred to as a musical, but no new music was written for it. Instead, traditional Austrian songs, regularly sung by the Trapp family when on tour, were integrated into the movie. By the time the film was released, the family had ended its career as a singing group, but their fame was increased. Broadway star Mary Martin was impressed enough by the film to urge Rodgers and Hammerstein to turn it into a stage production, but with original music. The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course the actual story of the Trapp family had to be altered for dramatic effect. It is true that Maria had intended to become a nun, but was not suited to that, and instead, was sent to the home of Baron von Trapp, a retired captain, to be governess of his seven children. His wife had died some time before, and he had become somewhat estranged from his children. Soon, Maria had enlivened the home, and she and the Baron were married. That much is true.

But the Baron was not wealthy, and the family had to earn its living with musical tours. They were quite successful in Austria before the arrival of the Nazis. They did escape after the Anschluss, when Hitler annexed Austria to Germany, but not in such a dramatic fashion as in the stage production or the film. In the earlier Broadway version, when the young rolf, now a member of the Nazy Youth Movement, is patrolling with a group of soldiers and discovers the refugees hiding in the Abby courtyard, he starts to betray them. But when he realizes Liesl is among them, he shouts that nobody is there. In the film, there is a confrontation between him and the Baron, who takes his gun.

Some songs from the stage production were omitted from the film. Also, the arrangement of songs was changed to take advantage of the freedom of film compared to the stage. For example, the dramatic aerial shot of Maria running across an alpine meadow at the beginning of the film could not have been duplicated on stage.

After escaping from Austria to Italy, the von Trapps continued touring there, and finally came to the United States, where they settled in Vermont. Their large inn there looks alpine, and the landscape is similar to what was shown in the film version. The von trapps not only found a welcome in Vermont, but almost a replica of their home in Austria.