It’s one of those things you think you know until you actually look it up. You’re humming "Do-Re-Mi" while doing the dishes and suddenly wonder: when did this actually happen? Most people assume it’s a mid-fifties relic, but the truth is a bit more staggered. If you’re asking what year Sound of Music made, the answer depends entirely on whether you’re talking about the Broadway lights, the Hollywood cameras, or the real-life escape from the Nazis that started the whole thing.
The movie? 1965.
The stage play? 1959.
The real Maria's marriage? 1927.
It’s a massive gap. Honestly, it’s kind of wild how much time passed between the actual events and the moment Julie Andrews spun around on that mountain in Austria. We tend to lump the "Golden Age" of musicals into one big bucket, but The Sound of Music was actually the swan song of that era. It was the last collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Hammerstein didn't even live to see the film become the juggernaut it is today.
The 1965 Phenomenon: When the Movie Took Over the World
March 2, 1965. That’s the date.
The world premiere happened at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. At the time, 20th Century Fox was basically bleeding money because of Cleopatra. They needed a hit, or they were going under. They got a miracle. When we talk about what year Sound of Music made its biggest cultural dent, it’s 1965, hands down. It wasn't just a movie; it was a financial rescue mission that actually worked.
Critics actually kind of hated it at first. Pauline Kael, the legendary critic, famously called it a "sugar-coated lie." She actually got fired from McCall’s magazine because her review was so negative toward a movie the public absolutely adored. People didn't care about the "sugar." They wanted the hills. They wanted the escape. By the end of 1966, it had overtaken Gone with the Wind as the highest-grossing film of all time.
Adjusted for inflation? It’s still in the top ten highest-grossing films ever made in North America. Think about that. No CGI, no superheroes, just a nun with a guitar and some kids in curtains.
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Why the 1959 Broadway Debut Matters
Before Julie Andrews, there was Mary Martin.
If you were a theater geek in 1959, you weren't thinking about the Alps; you were looking at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway. The stage version opened on November 16, 1959. It ran for 1,443 performances. It’s important because the movie actually changed a lot of the music. In the '59 stage version, "My Favorite Things" was sung by the Mother Abbess and Maria in the office, not during a thunderstorm with the kids.
Also, the year 1959 was bittersweet. Oscar Hammerstein II was dying of stomach cancer. He wrote the lyrics to "Edelweiss" as his final contribution to the world. A lot of people think "Edelweiss" is an actual Austrian national anthem. It’s not. It was written by a guy from New York in 1959. That’s how good the writing was—it felt like it had existed for centuries.
The Real Timeline vs. The Hollywood Version
History is messy.
Hollywood is clean.
The real Maria Kutschera married Georg von Trapp in 1927. That’s a full eleven years before the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. In the movie, it feels like they get married and immediately have to hike over a mountain to escape the Third Reich. In reality, they had time to have several more children of their own. Maria and Georg actually had three kids together, bringing the total to ten.
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When you look at what year Sound of Music made its transition from reality to fiction, 1956 is a huge turning point. That’s when a West German film called Die Trapp-Familie was released. It was a massive hit in Europe. This caught the eye of Broadway producers, which led to the 1959 musical, which led to the 1965 film.
- 1927: The real wedding.
- 1938: The family flees (by train to Italy, not over a mountain to Switzerland).
- 1949: Maria publishes her memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.
- 1956: The German movie comes out.
- 1959: Broadway premiere.
- 1965: The Julie Andrews film changes everything.
Production Secrets from 1964
The movie was actually filmed in 1964, mostly on location in Salzburg and at the Fox studios in California.
Filming in Salzburg was a nightmare. It rained. A lot. If you look closely at some of the outdoor scenes, the "sunlight" looks a bit artificial because they had to use massive lamps to mimic a clear day through the Austrian drizzle. The famous opening shot of Julie Andrews on the mountain? That was filmed from a helicopter, and the downdraft kept knocking her over. She was literally face-planting in the grass between takes.
Christopher Plummer, who played the Captain, famously didn't like the movie while he was making it. He called it "The Sound of Mucus." He was a "serious" actor and felt the role was empty. He even admitted to eating and drinking his way through Salzburg out of boredom, which meant his costumes had to be let out during filming. He eventually came around to loving the legacy of the film, but back in '64, he was over it.
The 1973 Television Revolution
For a lot of us, the year isn't 1965. It's 1973.
That was the first time the movie aired on network television. ABC paid $15 million for the rights to air it once. At the time, that was an insane amount of money. It became a yearly tradition for families. This is why the movie has such staying power; it wasn't just a theatrical release, it became a holiday staple. It’s the ultimate "event" movie that bridges generations.
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Facts That Often Get Mixed Up
People argue about the "year" all the time because the copyright dates on the VHS tapes or DVDs don't always match the release.
Sometimes you'll see 1964 on the credits. That’s the production year.
Sometimes you'll see 1966. That’s when it won the Oscar for Best Picture.
And let's talk about the setting. The movie takes place in 1938. This is a huge deal because it captures the Anschluss—the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. This is the "darkness" that makes the "light" of the music work. Without the threat of the 1930s political landscape, the movie is just a story about a nanny. With it, it’s a story about moral courage.
The real family didn't secretly cross the Alps on foot. If they had, they would have ended up in Germany, which would have been a pretty bad move. They took a train to Italy, then went to London, and eventually to America. They arrived in New York in September 1938 with very little money.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the history or plan a trip based on the film, keep these specifics in mind to avoid the tourist traps.
- Visit the Real Sites: If you go to Salzburg, the "Nonnberg Abbey" is the real deal where Maria was a postulant. It was founded around the year 714. However, they didn't let the crew film inside, so the interior shots in the movie are all sets.
- Check the Memoirs: Read Maria’s 1949 book if you want the unvarnished truth. She was a lot tougher (and sometimes more temperamental) than the Julie Andrews version.
- The 50th Anniversary: 2015 was a massive year for the franchise, featuring Lady Gaga’s famous Oscars tribute. If you're looking for high-quality restoration footage, look for the "50th Anniversary Edition" releases.
- The "Live" Era: In 2013, NBC did The Sound of Music Live! with Carrie Underwood. It brought the 1959 stage script back to a modern audience, showing that the story works even without the 1965 cinematic flourishes.
The year 1965 remains the definitive answer for most, but the story is a century-long evolution. It’s a 1920s romance, a 1930s escape, a 1940s book, a 1950s play, and a 1960s cinematic masterpiece. It’s rare for a single piece of media to stay relevant across so many different eras, but here we are, still talking about it.
To get the full experience, watch the 1965 film but listen to the 1959 original Broadway cast recording. You'll hear the difference in how "The Lonely Goatherd" and "My Favorite Things" were originally intended. Then, look up the 1938 newspaper clippings of the Trapp family arriving in the U.S. to see the faces of the people who actually lived the legend.
Next Steps for Research
- Compare the Play: Listen to the 1959 Broadway cast recording to hear the original song order.
- Fact-Check the Flight: Map the Trapp family's actual route from Salzburg to London to New York.
- Study the Lyrics: Look at Oscar Hammerstein's original drafts for "Edelweiss" to see how his final work evolved.