“The Sound of Music” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from The Sound of Music
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960)

THE STORY

     Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s musical The Sound of Music needs no introduction, largely due to the wildly successful 1965 film adaptation starring Julie Andrews. It is based on the 1949 memoirs of Maria von Trapp, a young woman who is deciding whether to become a nun when she takes a job as a governess. She becomes a mother figure for her students, the seven von Trapp children, and eventually falls in love with their widowed father. When Captain von Trapp receives an assignment to serve in the German navy, the family flees Austria.
     The opening number, “The Sound of Music” finds Maria feeling nostalgic about leaving the beautiful hills that have become her home at the abbey. In the inspirational “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” concluding the first act, the Mother Abbess tells Maria that she must go off and discover the life she is meant to live.

INSTRUMENTATION

“The Sound of Music”: Piccolo, two flutes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, strings

“Climb Ev’ry Mountain”: Flute, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, guitar, percussion, harp, strings