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visit the real sets of 'the sound of music'

Posted August 22, 2008

In "The Sound of Music," the city of Salzburg may appear too good to be true -- but it's real, and part of the movie was actually filmed there in 1964. Today, you can even take a "Sound of Music" tour in the town to see the locations and sights the movie has fixed in our hearts.

Salzburg made an especially good setting for "The Sound of Music": It's the birthplace of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and is famous for its annual Salzburg Festival, where the Von Trapp family performs in the second half of the film.

The opening and closing scenes take place on the Untersberg, the closest part of the Alps to Salzburg. In the beginning, Maria is singing "The Sound of Music" on this beautiful peak, and at the end, the family climbs it to escape from the Nazis. (In real life, however, Germany is actually on the other side of this mountain -- so, technically, the family was going the wrong way!)

The production used two Austrian houses as the exterior of the Von Trapp family home. The front part, that grand yellow house Maria danced up the tree-lined path toward as she sang "I Have Confidence," is the Frohnburg Castle. But the back of the house, overlooking the lake that Maria and the children fell into while rowing, is Leopoldskron Castle. The family drank lemonade with the Baroness on Leopoldskron's terrace, and the balcony is shown during the ball scene. The interiors were mostly filmed in Los Angeles, but the art directors re-created rooms from this house on sound stages.

All About the Do-Re-Mi

The most memorable part of the movie, the "Do-Re-Mi" song in which Maria teaches the Von Trapp family to sing, was filmed in part in the beautiful Mirabell Gardens at the center of Salzburg. In the song, Maria and the children run around the Pegasus fountain, through the ivy-covered tunnel, around the other fountain, and through the statue garden, where they tap one special gnome on the head. Then they finish by hopping up and down the steps, now famously known as the "Do-Re-Mi steps."

The production also filmed outside of Salzburg. The wedding scene was done at St. Wolfgang Cathedral, in a small lake town called Mondsee an hour outside of Salzburg. That's where Maria, led by Liesl, walked down the aisle to marry the Captain and officially become the children's mother.

These are just a few of the beautiful locations seen in "The Sound of Music." For more, you can catch a "Sound of Music" tour if you're ever in Salzburg. In the meantime, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery here on ABC Family, where "The Sound of Music" airs Saturday, August 30, at 7/6c.

Images, from left to right:

1. Old Town Salzburg: home of Mozart, "The Sound of Music," and the Salzburg Festival.

2. The Salzach River goes right through the city center of Salzburg.

3. Frohnburg Castle was used as the front of the Von Trapp family home. Today, it's filled with
students from the Mozarteum Music Academy.

4. Leopoldskron Castle was shot as the back of the Von Trapp family home. While filming the
boat scene, Kym Karath (who played the youngest, Gretl) fell into this lake. She couldn't swim and almost drowned!

5. You see this mountain, the Untersberg, in the movie's opening and closing credits.

6. Maria dances along this tree-lined path as she sings "I Have Confidence." This is also the path the Captain and the Baroness are driving along when they see "urchins" hanging from the trees. The Captain later realizes they're his own kids!

7. Now, let's follow along with the film's beloved "Do-Re-Mi" number. Let's start with the Mirabell Gardens' Pegasus fountain ...

8. Join Maria and the children as they run through this ivy-covered tunnel ...

9. And then they run around this other fountain in the Mirabell Gardens, singing "Do-Re-Mi."

10. Here's the gnome in Mirabell Gardens that the kids tap on the head during the "Do-Re-Mi" sequence ...

11. And finally, these are the "Do-Re-Mi" steps, where the children hop up and down during the song.

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visit the real sets of 'the sound of music'

Posted August 22, 2008

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