I first saw The Sound of Music (somehow it needs to be in italics!) when I was about 12, during one of the periodic revivals of the movie; perhaps an anniversary. I loved it to bits; very likely my passionate love of music of a certain sort was born on this occasion. I loved Julie Andrews---and I still love her, of course! What a wonderful role model for women who want to transcend the traditional stereotype, without surrendering all the superior attributes of the female sex---and I loved every one of the von Trapp kids, the younger ones more than the older ones, at first, and after later viewings of the movie, all of them, but the girls more than the boys!
The historical context of the movie is certainly important, but not the central value of it. It was a musical, tenuously descended from the autobiography of Maria von Trapp, who, with her husband and family, settled in Vermont, to the best of my knowledge, and established a ski resort there. The musical component of the play was derived honestly, because Maria was very much a musician, and was interested in folk music of all lands, and gained entry into the lives of the very reserved von Trapp children through music.
The movie really presented a story that was ultimately different from the true story, and in my mind, initially I imagined that Julie Andrews and the kids were the original protagonists! As I grew older, and watched the movie on different occasions, I became gradually aware of the technical faults of the movie, and the DVD, and the compact disc, the screenplay and so on. But none of that could detract from the sheer charm of the actors, especially Julie Andrews, the old-time dry humor of Uncle Max, the kids, who stayed in character even when they were rebellious, the angelic sweetness of the girls, as they looked after each other, and the youngest one Gretl (Kym Karath).
Many who are perfectly well balanced in their outlook inexplicably become cynics when talking about a movie such as The Sound of Music. "Life is not like that," they say, "and in any case, the invasion of Austria was not like that." Well, of course it could not have been like that; the production took immense liberties to create not only a profitable family movie (an immensely profitable movie, by all accounts), but a movie to which a principally American audience could easily relate. I must say, however, that the artistic production created a movie into which a viewer---a young viewer, certainly---could sink herself, and almost believe that she was in Austria, especially Salzburg, where Mozart lived and worked for a time. Furthermore, we're looking at these events through the eyes of Maria von Trapp, who most certainly overlaid a romantic wrapping on her experiences, as most survivors of those times would have done. We cannot expect that the movie producers would go out of their way to look for gruesome scenes from those times with which to introduce historical accuracy into a musical play.
The revelation came as a shock to me, that many of my fictional characters were based on characters from the Sound of Music---I'll leave it to you to guess which ones; it is at least not a hard guess that Helen was based in large part on Julie Andrews, though not in terms of her undisciplined approach to love and romance---and the movie was most definitely a jump-off point for all my discoveries and adventures in learning about classical music of that time.
The music of The Sound of Music is wonderful, but I have to confess that, with a few exceptions, its charm is mostly that of nostalgia. Once I start enumerating the excerpts I love, I suspect they will end up being more than half the songs! Edelweiss, some have written, was not a folk-song at all, but a song constructed by Richard Rodgers. I am skeptical, but it certainly is a lovely song! The Do-Re-Mi song is a brilliant composition, unsurpassed by anything, except maybe 'Getting to know you,' from The King and I, and a few iconic songs like that. I love the completely silly Lonely Goatherd, and the Farewell Song, none of which I can stand anyone singing but the movie cast. The Sound of Music opening song, and How do you solve a problem like Maria, I enjoy from a dramatic point of view, though they aren't really wonderful as pure music. Other songs such as Climb every mountain, and I have confidence, and (Oh god) Somewhere in my youth or childhood (I must have done something good), I can take, or more likely, leave strictly alone.
So this is my homage to this delightful, and increasingly under-appreciated movie, and its wonderfully talented cast of actors.
Kay Hemlock Brown
The historical context of the movie is certainly important, but not the central value of it. It was a musical, tenuously descended from the autobiography of Maria von Trapp, who, with her husband and family, settled in Vermont, to the best of my knowledge, and established a ski resort there. The musical component of the play was derived honestly, because Maria was very much a musician, and was interested in folk music of all lands, and gained entry into the lives of the very reserved von Trapp children through music.
The movie really presented a story that was ultimately different from the true story, and in my mind, initially I imagined that Julie Andrews and the kids were the original protagonists! As I grew older, and watched the movie on different occasions, I became gradually aware of the technical faults of the movie, and the DVD, and the compact disc, the screenplay and so on. But none of that could detract from the sheer charm of the actors, especially Julie Andrews, the old-time dry humor of Uncle Max, the kids, who stayed in character even when they were rebellious, the angelic sweetness of the girls, as they looked after each other, and the youngest one Gretl (Kym Karath).
Many who are perfectly well balanced in their outlook inexplicably become cynics when talking about a movie such as The Sound of Music. "Life is not like that," they say, "and in any case, the invasion of Austria was not like that." Well, of course it could not have been like that; the production took immense liberties to create not only a profitable family movie (an immensely profitable movie, by all accounts), but a movie to which a principally American audience could easily relate. I must say, however, that the artistic production created a movie into which a viewer---a young viewer, certainly---could sink herself, and almost believe that she was in Austria, especially Salzburg, where Mozart lived and worked for a time. Furthermore, we're looking at these events through the eyes of Maria von Trapp, who most certainly overlaid a romantic wrapping on her experiences, as most survivors of those times would have done. We cannot expect that the movie producers would go out of their way to look for gruesome scenes from those times with which to introduce historical accuracy into a musical play.
The revelation came as a shock to me, that many of my fictional characters were based on characters from the Sound of Music---I'll leave it to you to guess which ones; it is at least not a hard guess that Helen was based in large part on Julie Andrews, though not in terms of her undisciplined approach to love and romance---and the movie was most definitely a jump-off point for all my discoveries and adventures in learning about classical music of that time.
The music of The Sound of Music is wonderful, but I have to confess that, with a few exceptions, its charm is mostly that of nostalgia. Once I start enumerating the excerpts I love, I suspect they will end up being more than half the songs! Edelweiss, some have written, was not a folk-song at all, but a song constructed by Richard Rodgers. I am skeptical, but it certainly is a lovely song! The Do-Re-Mi song is a brilliant composition, unsurpassed by anything, except maybe 'Getting to know you,' from The King and I, and a few iconic songs like that. I love the completely silly Lonely Goatherd, and the Farewell Song, none of which I can stand anyone singing but the movie cast. The Sound of Music opening song, and How do you solve a problem like Maria, I enjoy from a dramatic point of view, though they aren't really wonderful as pure music. Other songs such as Climb every mountain, and I have confidence, and (Oh god) Somewhere in my youth or childhood (I must have done something good), I can take, or more likely, leave strictly alone.
So this is my homage to this delightful, and increasingly under-appreciated movie, and its wonderfully talented cast of actors.
Kay Hemlock Brown
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