Captain Von Trapp's Final Tribute to Austria At The Salzburg Festival.

"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..."

-"Edelweiss" (1959),
by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.​

"Eidelweiss" is perhaps the most beautiful ballad and touching piece from the 1965 film "The Sound of Music". If refers to a small white, delicate flower, Leontopodium nivale, which grows on snow-covered mountain peaks in Austria. It is an unofficial symbol of Austria too and is protected by law. It is the only song sung in the movie by the character Captain Georg von Trapp (played by Christopher Plummer). It was written by Oscar Hammerstein. Some people think it is or is based on an actual Austrian patriotic song. Perhaps the national anthem. Or maybe a folk song there. My mother told me that once. Actually, it is only found in the movie, where it is first sung by Captain Von Trapp, when he rediscovers music with his children, earlier on in the film. It is also meant in the film as a statement of Austrian patriotism and independence in the face of the pressure put upon Captain Von Trapp to join the navy of Nazi Germany, following the Nazi annexation of his country. Then finally, in one of the last scenes of the film, it becomes his subliminal goodbye to his beloved homeland, using the flower as a symbol of his continued loyalty to Austria, and what to it still means to him.

It this final scene,



he is on the stage at the concert, near the end of Act II. He is trying to find the strength to sing this song, one more time. Because he knows he'll never be in Austria ever again. But when his family sees him struggling, they join in with him, in a symbolic act of solidarity. Then the family escapes the Nazis and climbs thru the Alps of Austria. Now singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain". Walking slowly now, to Switzerland, and safety, and freedom once again.

 

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