Maria (The Sound of Music) Duet
 

"Maria" was written by Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein III in 1959 for the musical "The Sound Of Music".

The tempo of this piece is a little unusual - I have marked the opening as a dotted half note = 280 beats - kind of a waltz in quick time. The transition from 3/4 time to 4/4 time is quite seamless - now a quarter note = 280 beats. Additionally, there are two sections, measures 55-56 and 91-92 that are marked rubato (free form with no set tempo). To suit the requirements of Composer, I have set the tempo to quarter = 90 - just to try to approximate what the performers do.

The main theme starting at measure 37 is notated in what some would consider to be 9/8 time, instead of the dotted-eighth/sixteenth notation in the song book. To my ear, the dotted-eighth/sixteenth notation sounds too choppy - not at all the way the performers sing it. This may make this piece a little bit more difficult to read for the less-experienced reader, but I wanted the piece to sound like it is performed and this was the best way to do that.

In order to keep the printed score to three pages, I had to do some unorthodox repeats. The flow goes through the 1st and 2nd endings and goes into the 3rd ending. The repeat at the end of measure 27 goes all the way back to measure 2, then playing through the 4th and 5th ending, and eventually the 6th ending. Let Composer play it for you and follow the flow to better understand my meaning.

The alto part in measures 91-92 tries to capture the sound of the arrangement as heard on YouTube.

If you would like to see the lyrics or the chords, you can use Composer commands to display them: for lyrics use qsl; for chords use qscn.

Ralph R. Rayner