The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
• Students will prepare to watch the musical, The Sound of
Music, by taking notes on the composers, historical
information and discovering voice and ensemble types they
will hear in the musical.
The Musical
• based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the
Trapp Family Singers
• The original Broadway production opened in November 1959
• Written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Rodgers and Hammerstein
•
•
•
•
•
Richard Rodgers
Oscar Hammerstein
Rodgers – music
Hammerstein - lyrics
Created a number of popular
Broadway musicals in the 1940’s
and 1950’s
• Considered the “Golden Age” of
Broadway Musicals
• Their shows (and film versions)
won 34 Tony Awards, 15
Academy Awards, the Pulitzer
Prize and two Grammys.
Richard Rodgers
•
•
•
•
Born June 28, 1902
Died December 30, 1979
American composer
Wrote more that 900 songs
for 43 Broadway Musicals
• Also wrote music for film
and TV
• Before he worked with
Oscar Hammerstein he
wrote music with Lorenz
Hart
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart
Oscar Hammerstein
• Born July 12, 1895
• Died August 23, 1960
• American writer, producer
and director
• He wrote 850 songs
• He always wrote the words
(lyricist) to the music and
worked with composers
Jerome Kern, Vincent
Yourmans, Rudolf Friml
and Sigmund Romberg
Their Collaboration
• Hart was becoming more difficult to work with for Rodgers,
and Jerome Kern had turned Hammerstein down, so the two
worked together for the first time on Oklahoma!
• Before Rodgers and Hammerstein arrived on the Broadway
scene, musicals were largely built around a star and had
fantastical or unrealistic stories.
• Rodgers and Hammerstein changed that by writing shows
that had a story that was easy to follow, was realistic or
made you think.
• All the parts of the show: the dancing, singing and music all
worked together as a whole.
Formula Musical
• Some people call this a “formula musical.”
• In a formula musical there is always a male lead, a female
lead, a male supporting role and a female supporting role.
• These are usually by voice type, too: Baritone, Soprano, Tenor
and Alto.
• There is typically a predicable plot and all the music and
dancing and singing go together.
The Sound of Music
• The Sound of Music was Rogers and Hammerstein’s last
musical.
• Hammerstein died of cancer just 9 months after the show
opened on Broadway.
• The last lyrics that Hammerstein wrote were the lyrics for
“Edelweiss”
• Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever.
The Movie
• 1965
• Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer
Voice types
•
•
•
•
•
•
Soprano – highest female voice
Mezzo-Soprano – “medium” female voice
Alto – low female voice
Tenor – highest adult male voice
Baritone – mid-range adult male voice
Bass – lowest adult male voice
Ensemble (musical group)
types
•
•
•
•
•
•
Solo – one person
Duet – two people
Trio – three people
Quartet – four people
Chorus – the entire cast or everyone
Orchestra – the instruments that accompany the show. In
Rogers and Hammerstein shows these instruments would
include: violin, viola, cello, string bass, percussion, flute, oboe,
clarinet, maybe bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, trombone,
maybe tuba, French horn
The Sound of Music
• Students will prepare to watch the musical, The Sound of
Music, by taking notes on the composers, historical
information and discovering voice and ensemble types they
will hear in the musical.