Climb Ev'ry Mountain
Encyclopedia
"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is a show tune
from the 1959
Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical
The Sound of Music
. Here it is sung at the close of the first act by the Mother Abbess
. It is themed as an inspirational piece, to encourage people to take every step towards attaining one's dreams.
" from Carousel
. They are both sung by the female mentor
characters in the shows, and are used to give strength to the protagonists in the story, and both are given powerful reprises at the end of their respective shows. However, as Oscar Hammerstein II
was writing the lyrics, it developed its own inspirational overtones along the lines of an earlier Hammerstein song, "There's a Hill Beyond a Hill". He felt that the metaphors of climbing mountains and fording streams
better fitted Maria's quest for her spiritual compass. However, the muse behind the song was Sister Gregory, the head of Drama
at Rosary College
in Illinois
. The letters that she sent to Hammerstein and to Mary Martin
, the first Maria von Trapp
on Broadway
, described the parallels between a nun's choice for a religious life and the choices that humans must make to find their purpose and direction in life. When she read the manuscript of the lyrics, she confessed that it "drove [her] to the Chapel" because the lyrics conveyed a "yearning that … ordinary souls feel but cannot communicate."
Although this song has parallels with "You'll Never Walk Alone," the song shares musical similarities with the song "Something Wonderful
" from The King and I
. Both songs are played at a similar broad tempo, and both songs have accompaniments punctuated by heavy chords
in the orchestral score.
Originally, the Mother Abbess sings the song at the end of the first act. It has often been sung by operatically trained voices in professional stage productions. In the original Broadway production it was sung by Patricia Neway
, in the original London production it was sung by Constance Shacklock
, and in the original Australian production it was sung by Rosina Raisbeck
.
When Ernest Lehman
wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation
, he shifted the scene so that this song would be the first major song of the second act. When Robert Wise
and his film crew were filming this scene, Peggy Wood
had some reservations about the words, which she felt were too "pretentious." So they filmed Peggy Wood in silhouette
, against the wall of the set for the Mother Abbess' office. However, Peggy Wood's singing voice is ghosted by Margery MacKay, the wife of the rehearsal pianist Harper MacKay, as Ms. Wood wasn't able to sing the high notes of the song.
had a very minor hit in 1960 with his recording of the song. The Fleetwoods
released a cover version of the song that can be found on their 1990 album, The Best of The Fleetwoods. In 1961, Welsh
singer Shirley Bassey
recorded the song and released it as part of a double A-sided single with "Reach for the Stars
." It reached #1 in the UK and remained on the charts for 18 weeks.
Alex Burrall's version can be heard in the 1992 movie The Jacksons: An American Dream
. Burrall (portraying Michael Jackson
6–8 years of age) sings the song at a school pageant show.
In 2003, Guy Sebastian
's interpretation of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" was seen by TV viewers of Australian Idol season 1
when he performed it on the 1960s theme night. Sebastian went on to win and become the first Australian Idol
. In 2004, he recorded "Climb Every Mountain" for the B-side
of his #1 single "All I Need Is You
".
In 2007, the song was adapted for the "Confidence" television campaign for the National Australia Bank
.
Show tune
A show tune is a popular song originally written as part of the score of a "show" , especially if the piece in question has become a "standard", more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context...
from the 1959
1959 in music
-Events:*January 5 – The first sessions for Ella Fitzgerald's George and Ira Gershwin Songbook are held.*January 12 – Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan....
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
. Here it is sung at the close of the first act by the Mother Abbess
Abbess
An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....
. It is themed as an inspirational piece, to encourage people to take every step towards attaining one's dreams.
Background
This song shares inspirational overtones with the song "You'll Never Walk AloneYou'll Never Walk Alone (song)
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the...
" from Carousel
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
. They are both sung by the female mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
characters in the shows, and are used to give strength to the protagonists in the story, and both are given powerful reprises at the end of their respective shows. However, as Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
was writing the lyrics, it developed its own inspirational overtones along the lines of an earlier Hammerstein song, "There's a Hill Beyond a Hill". He felt that the metaphors of climbing mountains and fording streams
STREAMS
In computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...
better fitted Maria's quest for her spiritual compass. However, the muse behind the song was Sister Gregory, the head of Drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
at Rosary College
Dominican University (Illinois)
Dominican University is a coeducational, comprehensive, Catholic institution of higher education and research in River Forest, Illinois. Affiliated with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees and certificate programs...
in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The letters that she sent to Hammerstein and to Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
, the first Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp
Maria Augusta von Trapp , also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers...
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, described the parallels between a nun's choice for a religious life and the choices that humans must make to find their purpose and direction in life. When she read the manuscript of the lyrics, she confessed that it "drove [her] to the Chapel" because the lyrics conveyed a "yearning that … ordinary souls feel but cannot communicate."
Although this song has parallels with "You'll Never Walk Alone," the song shares musical similarities with the song "Something Wonderful
Something Wonderful (song)
"Something Wonderful" is a show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.The song was first sung in the original Broadway production by Dorothy Sarnoff, who played Lady Thiang. Later, in the 1956 film adaptation starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner it was sung by Terry...
" from The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. Both songs are played at a similar broad tempo, and both songs have accompaniments punctuated by heavy chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
in the orchestral score.
Originally, the Mother Abbess sings the song at the end of the first act. It has often been sung by operatically trained voices in professional stage productions. In the original Broadway production it was sung by Patricia Neway
Patricia Neway
Patricia Neway is an American operatic soprano and musical theatre actress who had an active international career during the mid-1940s through the 1970s. She is particularly remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of several contemporary American operas, most notably Magda Sorel in...
, in the original London production it was sung by Constance Shacklock
Constance Shacklock
Constance Shacklock OBE was an English contralto. After more than a decade of roles with the Covent Garden Opera Company, with other companies and on the concert stage, Shacklock performed for six years in The Sound of Music in London as the Mother Abbess...
, and in the original Australian production it was sung by Rosina Raisbeck
Rosina Raisbeck
Phyllis Rosina Raisbeck MBE was an Australian opera and concert mezzo-soprano singer. Her fine voice was basically a dramatic mezzo, with a warm middle register supporting strong top notes....
.
When Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman was an American screenwriter. He received 6 Academy Award nominations during his screenwriting career...
wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
, he shifted the scene so that this song would be the first major song of the second act. When Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
and his film crew were filming this scene, Peggy Wood
Peggy Wood
Peggy Wood was an American actress of stage, film and television.-Early career:She was born Mary Margaret Wood in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Eugene Wood, a journalist, and Mary Gardner, a telegraph operator. She was a direct descendant of Daniel Boone...
had some reservations about the words, which she felt were too "pretentious." So they filmed Peggy Wood in silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
, against the wall of the set for the Mother Abbess' office. However, Peggy Wood's singing voice is ghosted by Margery MacKay, the wife of the rehearsal pianist Harper MacKay, as Ms. Wood wasn't able to sing the high notes of the song.
Other versions
Tony BennettTony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
had a very minor hit in 1960 with his recording of the song. The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods were a singing trio from Olympia, Washington, United States; formed in the late 1950s. They were responsible for eleven hit songs, beginning with "Come Softly to Me"...
released a cover version of the song that can be found on their 1990 album, The Best of The Fleetwoods. In 1961, Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
singer Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
recorded the song and released it as part of a double A-sided single with "Reach for the Stars
Reach for the Stars (song)
Reach for the Stars is a song made popular by Shirley Bassey and written by Austrian pop singer/songwriter Udo Jürgens . As a double A-side single it went to #1 in the UK charts....
." It reached #1 in the UK and remained on the charts for 18 weeks.
Alex Burrall's version can be heard in the 1992 movie The Jacksons: An American Dream
The Jacksons: An American Dream
The Jacksons: An American Dream is a five-hour American miniseries broadcast in two halves on ABC and originally broadcast on November 15 through November 18, 1992...
. Burrall (portraying Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
6–8 years of age) sings the song at a school pageant show.
In 2003, Guy Sebastian
Guy Sebastian
Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. He is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi platinum albums, including a number-one and...
's interpretation of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" was seen by TV viewers of Australian Idol season 1
Australian Idol (season 1)
The first season of Australian Idol was produced by Fremantle Media subsidiary Grundy Television in association with UK company 19TV, and was broadcast on Network Ten for 19 weeks in the latter half of 2003...
when he performed it on the 1960s theme night. Sebastian went on to win and become the first Australian Idol
Australian Idol
Australian Idol is a Logie Award-winning Australian singing competition, which began its first season on July 2003 and ended its run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive...
. In 2004, he recorded "Climb Every Mountain" for the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of his #1 single "All I Need Is You
All I Need Is You
"All I Need Is You" is a single by Australian singer Guy Sebastian. "All I Need Is You" is the second single from the album Just As I Am, following "Angels Brought Me Here". "All I Need Is You" reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and was accredited 1 x Platinum in Australia, and reached...
".
In 2007, the song was adapted for the "Confidence" television campaign for the National Australia Bank
National Australia Bank
National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers. NAB is ranked 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation...
.