The Sound of Music (1959) is a musical by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and based on a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is an adaptation of the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including the title song "The Sound of Music", "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and "Do-Re-Mi". The original Broadway production opened on November 16, 1959; 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 final musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical presents a history of the von Trapp family, albeit one that is largely inaccurate: Georg Ludwig von Trapp, who was in fact anti-Nazi, lived with his family in a villa in a district of Salzburg, called Aigen. He and Maria had been married 10 years before the Anschluss and had two of their three children before that time. He had actually considered a position in the Kriegsmarine, but ultimately decided to emigrate. The children's names are different, at least part of the reason being that a daughter from von Trapp's first marriage was also called Maria. Also, the real-life Maria's maiden name was Kutschera, not Rainer. While the von Trapp family hikes over the Alps to Switzerland, in reality they walked to the local train station and boarded the next train to Italy, where they fled to London and ultimately the United States. The movie version is as follows: In the 1930s Austria, a young woman named Maria is failing miserably in her attempts to become a nun. When the Navy captain Georg Von Trapp writes to the convent asking for a governess that can handle his seven mischievous children, Maria is given the job. The Captain's wife is dead, and he is often away, and runs the household as strictly as he does the ships he sails on. The children are unhappy and resentful of the governesses that their father keeps hiring, and have managed to run each of them off one by one. When Maria arrives, she is initially met with the same hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws them to her and brings some much-needed joy into all their lives, including the Captain's. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though Georg is already engaged to a Baroness and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made.

The Mirabell Gardens were laid out in the 18th century. Maria and the children were seen dancing around the statue of Pegasus, the winged horse, and throughout the gardens singing 'Do-Re-Mi'.

The front side of the castle was used as the Trapp family home, the children were boating on the Leopoldskron Lake and fell into the water. The Venetian room was copied from the castle and used as the ballroom.

This hunting castle was built in the early 17th century by Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus. In the gardens the glass pavillion was the site where Maria and the children san "Sixteen Going on Seventeen".

Nonnberg Abbey is the oldest convent in the German speaking part of Europe. Maria was a novice there. The baron and Maria were married here in 1927. The scenes for the movie made here include the opening with the nuns going to Mass and Maria coming too late.

Scenery shown at the beginning of the movie was filmed at Lake Fuschl on the way to St. Gilgen. Like the Mozart family, visitors from all over the world appreciate the beautiful village in the Salzkammergut.

In Mondsee Cathedral the film wedding between Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as the Baron took place.

When the Sound of Music was released in 1965 it took the world by storm, earning five Oscars. For millions of people, the film is that rare combination of a powerful and moving story, first rate music, and breathtaking scenery of Salzburg!