Edelweiss (song)
"Edelweiss" | |
---|---|
Song | |
Published | 1959 |
Composer(s) | Richard Rodgers |
Lyricist(s) | Oscar Hammerstein II |
from The Sound of Music |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Leontopodium_alpinum_detail.jpg/220px-Leontopodium_alpinum_detail.jpg)
"Edelweiss" is a
This was the final song of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical collaboration as well as the last song written by Oscar Hammerstein II, who died in August 1960.
Writing
While The Sound of Music was in tryouts in Boston, Richard Rodgers felt Captain von Trapp should have a song with which he would bid farewell to the Austria he knew and loved.[1] Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II decided to write an extra song that von Trapp would sing in the festival concert sequence towards the end of the show.[2] As they were writing it, they felt this song could also use the guitar-playing and folk-singing talents of Theodore Bikel, who had been cast as the Captain.[2] The Lindsay and Crouse script provides the metaphor of the simple edelweiss wildflower as a symbol of the Austria that Captain von Trapp, Maria, and their children knew would live on, in their hearts, despite the Nazi annexation of their homeland. The metaphor of this song builds on an earlier scene when Gretl presents a bouquet of edelweiss flowers to Baroness Elsa Schräder, during the latter's visit to the von Trapp household.
Rodgers provided a simple, yet haunting and affecting, waltz-time melody, to the simple Italian style ritornello lyric that Hammerstein wrote about the appearance of the edelweiss flower. "Edelweiss" turned out to be one of the most beloved songs in the musical, as well as one of the best-loved songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
"Edelweiss" is the last song Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together; Hammerstein was suffering from stomach cancer,[3] which took his life nine months after The Sound of Music opened on Broadway.
![\new Score {
\new Staff {
\relative c' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"clarinet" \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 132
\clef treble
\key c \major
\time 3/4
e2 g4 d'2. c2 g4 f2. e2 e4 e4 f4 g4 a2. g2. e2 g4 d'2. c2 g4 f2. e2 g4 g4 a4 b4 c2. c2.
}
\addlyrics{E -- del -- weiss, E -- del -- weiss, ev -- 'ry mor -- ning you greet me. Small and white, clean and bright, you look hap -- py to meet me. }
}
}](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/g/v/gvxmd39cxogc6d2lu9p3gepd5r59fuj/gvxmd39c.png)
Film adaptation
Although the stage production uses the song only during the concert sequence, Ernest Lehman's screenplay for the film adaptation uses the song twice. Lehman created a scene that makes extra use of the song. This scene, inspired by a line in the original script by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, calls for Captain von Trapp to sing "Edelweiss" with his children in their family drawing room and rediscover the love he felt for them, with Liesl accompanying him. Lehman also expanded the scope of the song when it was sung in the Salzburg Festival concert scene, so that Captain von Trapp and his family would call on the crowds to join in the song with him, in defiance of the Nazi soldiers posted around the arena.
An instrumental version of the song is also heard as the final song played during the party as Maria leaves to return to the abbey at the end of the first half of the film.
Austrian attitudes
The edelweiss is a popular flower in Austria and was featured on the old Austrian 1
In the original run, the musical The Sound of Music was treated with disdain by Austrians,[6] and the song "Edelweiss" has been singled out for criticism. When US President Ronald Reagan quoted the song in 1984 to toast Austrian President Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian newspapers complained that the song was full of clichés and called it "kitsch."[7] When the musical premiered on the national stage in Vienna in 2005, one critic called it "boring" and another referred to "Edelweiss" as "an insult to Austrian musical creation."[8] However, attitudes have improved as film tourism became a bigger attraction than Salzburg's attraction for being the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[9][10] When the musical premiered in Salzburg in 2011, most performances were sold out.[11]
Misconceptions
The great popularity of the song has led many of its audience to believe that it is an
There is similar confusion about another song co-authored by Hammerstein, "
Theodore Bikel, in his autobiography, Theo (2002), wrote that, after a performance, he was once approached by a native Austrian who said, "I love that Edelweiss" and then added, with total confidence, "Of course, I have known it for a long time, but only in German".[16]
Another misconception about the song is that it is a real-life Nazi anthem, even though "Edelweiss" is not a pro-Nazi song within the context of The Sound of Music, nor did the song even exist during the Nazi era.[17][18] There is, however, another song, Es war ein Edelweiss, which was indeed composed by Herms Niel for the German Army in 1941.
Legal problems
The estates of Rodgers and Hammerstein have not authorized the use of alternative lyrics with the melody of the song, making certain commercial uses of those versions potentially infringing if they do not fall under fair use. Rodgers stated that "he would take legal action against any group" using the "Edelweiss" melody with altered words;[19] the current rightsholders comply with his wishes, refusing to grant permission for these commercial requests, which are "inconsistent with the creators' intentions".[20]
Other versions
- English singer
- better source needed]
- In 2013, American country singer Carrie Underwood and English actor Stephen Moyer, along with Ariane Rinehart, Michael Nigro, Ella Watts-Gorman, Joe West, Sophia Caruso, Grace Rundhaug and Peyton Ella, would perform the song in The Sound of Music Live! and would do a studio recording of the song for the soundtrack.
- A performance by Jeanette Olsson is used in the opening sequence of the 2015 Amazon series The Man in the High Castle.[24]
References
- ^ "Was "Edelweiss" Based on an Austrian Folk Song?". Entertainment Urban Legends Revealed. July 25, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-1416549543.
- ^ "Oscar Hammerstein II Is Dead". The New York Times. August 23, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
- ISBN 978-1-4165-4954-3. Retrieved 5 February 2021 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 1576381633.
- ISBN 9780912777405.
In Salzburg the movie ran exactly three days before the theater owners pulled the plug, and it has never been reissued. ... Yet Salzburg and many Austrian citizens actually harbored disdain for the film. A typical response from the Salzburg residents who dismissed the movie was that it wasn't authentic.
- ^ Radcliffe, Donnie (2 March 1984). "Muddled Melody 'The Sound of Music' Doesn't Play in Austria". The Washington Post.
- ^ Bernstein, Richard (24 March 2005). "In Austria, 'The Sound of Music' is a curiosity". The New York Times.
- ISBN 9781466870598.
Says city native Georg Steinitz: "It took the city and country more than forty years to realize the impact of the film and what it has meant to people around the world. People in Salzburg may want visitors to come to the city because of Mozart, but The Sound of Music draws even more people. The film has become a myth—in a category of its own." ... (Steinitz has taken one of the bus tours as a lark, reporting, "The guides seem to have little idea of what really happened on the set, but people have a good time—their memories of the film take over.")
- ISBN 1932542043.)
About three years ago Julie Andrews and I were awarded a state medal from Austria because of the movie," Wise said. "I've even had people say to me, in all earnestness, that The Sound of Music has done more for Salzburg and Austria than Mozart.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Wilder, Charly (14 December 2011). "36 Hours: Salzburg, Austria". The New York Times.
- ^ "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria". BBC. November 7, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
- ^ Steyn, Mark (December 5, 1997). "Where Have You Gone, Oscar Hammerstein?". Slate. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
- ISBN 0-13-048583-7.
- ISBN 0-306-80668-1.
- ISBN 9780299300548. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ Grisar, PJ (2019-04-18). "I Can't Believe I Have To Say This, But NO, 'Edelweiss' Is Not A Nazi Anthem". Forward.com. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
- Heavy.com. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
- The United Methodist Church. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
- The United Methodist Church. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
- Official Charts. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
Edelweiss by Vince Hill - Peak position - 2 - First Chart Date - 15/02/1967
- ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ 蒋伟光 (Director) (May 25, 1967). 閃電煞星 [Lightning Killer] (Motion picture) (in Cantonese). Hong Kong: 合众.
YouTube title: 蕭芳芳 唱 Sukiyaki and Edelweiss
(starts at timestamp 3:03) - ^ "'Edelweiss': An American Song for Global Dystopia". The Atlantic. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.