The Sound of Music (song)

“The Sound of Music” is the title song from the 1959 musical The Sound of Music. Its music was composed by Richard Rodgers to lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Performances

In 1959, Rodgers and Hammerstein asked singer Patti Page to record the title song of their forthcoming musical, The Sound of Music, hoping for some national attention. Page recorded the song for Mercury Records on the day that the musical opened on Broadway. Since Page's version was recorded a week before the original Broadway cast album, Page was the first artist to record any song from the musical. She featured the song on her national TV variety show sponsored by Oldsmobile, The Patti Page Olds Show.

The song was sung by Mary Martin in the 1959 original Broadway production.

The version of the song which is perhaps the best known was sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film version, with a reprise by the Von Trapp family later in the film. The song introduces the character of Maria, a young novice in an Austrian abbey.

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, such as "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", and the title song "The Sound of Music".

The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened on November 16, 1959. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, out of nine nominations. The original London production opened at the Palace Theatre on May 18, 1961. The show has enjoyed numerous productions and revivals since then. It was adapted as a 1965 film musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which won five Academy Awards. The Sound of Music was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oscar Hammerstein died of cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere.

The Sound of Music (film)

The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is an adaptation of the 1959 Broadway musical The Sound of Music, composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The film's screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, adapted from the stage musical's book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing love and music into the lives of the family through kindness and patience, she marries the officer and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith.

The original Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical score was enhanced by two new songs by Richard Rodgers. Arranger and conductor Irwin Kostal prerecorded the songs with a large orchestra and singers on a stage prior to the start of filming, and later adapted instrumental underscore passages based on the songs. Choreographers Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, who had worked with Andrews on Mary Poppins, worked out all new choreography sequences that incorporated many of the Salzburg locations and settings. The Sound of Music was filmed from March 26 through September 1, 1964, with external scenes shot on location in Salzburg, Austria, and the surrounding region, and interior scenes filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in California. The movie was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Ted McCord and produced with DeLuxe Color processing and six-track sound recording.

The Sound of Music (soundtrack)

The soundtrack to the film The Sound of Music was released in 1965. It reached number one in June of that year and spent a total of 70 weeks at the top over several runs. It was the biggest-selling album in the UK during 1965, 1966, and 1968 and the second biggest-selling of the entire decade. The Sound of Music also stayed 73 weeks on the Norwegian charts, becoming the seventh best-charting album of all time in that country.

There were differences between the 1959 Broadway soundtrack album and the 1965 soundtrack. Three songs from the Broadway production, "An Ordinary Couple", "How Can Love Survive?", and "No Way to Stop It" were cut and replaced with two new songs, "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good". For the original Broadway show, the music was written by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, but both the lyrics and the music for the two new songs were written by Richard Rodgers, as lyricist Hammerstein died in 1960.

All songs were arranged and conducted by Irwin Kostal.

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, or "Oscars", is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognise excellence in cinematic achievements in the film industry as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname "Oscar". The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

The awards ceremony was first broadcast to radio in 1930 and televised in 1953. It is now seen live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Oscars is the oldest entertainment awards ceremony; its equivalents, the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theatre, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording, are modeled after the Academy Awards.

88th Academy Awards

The 88th Academy Awards ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theatre on February 28, 2016 and hosted by Chris Rock. A total of 2,947 Oscars have been awarded since the inception of the award through the 87th. The 88th awards ceremony has become the target of a potential boycott, based on critics' perception that its all-white acting nominee list reflects bias. In response, the Academy has initiated "historic" changes in membership by the year 2020.