Julie Andrews, Irwin Kostal - "The Sound Of Music" (1965)

I took a hike in the Napa Valley hills on this day (September 28, 2011) and this song came to mind. “The Sound of Music” is the title song from The Sound of Music, composed by Richard Rodgers to lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally sung by Mary Martin in the 1959 stage musical of the same name. It was sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film, with a reprise by the Von Trapp family later in the film. The song introduces the character Maria, a young novice in an Austrian abbey. The song was ranked tenth in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest Songs in Movie History. The stage version of the song has a four-line vocal prelude ("My day in the hills has come to an end I know...) followed by the familiar "The hills are alive with the sound of music..." The film soundtrack and the soundtrack album have two different instrumental preludes to "The hills are alive..." both of which contain portions of the original vocal prelude. The cast album to the 1998 Broadway revival contains the four-line prelude as well as the instrumental prelude present in the film version. This version is also the same key as the film version.