So Long, Farewell

Yesterday we went to Beccles and saw a most enjoyable production of ‘The Sound of Music, with a super talented cast. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of the individual characters of the children…

The old story of Maria, a young postulant in a convent… the seven children of widowed naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp… the von Trapp family singers in 1938 Austria is well known. Many songs were made famous by the 1965 film… In particular ‘So Long, Farewell’ comes twice in the show:  

There’s a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say coo coo

Regretfully they tell us
But firmly they compel us
To say goodbye
To you

So long, farewell
Auf widersehen, goodnight
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

So long, farewell
Auf widersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu to you and you and you

When ‘So Long, Farewell’ is first sung it’s a bit of fun. Maria has won the children over. Love is in the air. The children sing a charming bedtime lullaby at the Captain’s party. Gretl, the youngest child, barely stays awake for her final verse…

As the narrative progresses the tone becomes more serious. Maria is challenged to face her fears; Captain von Trapp has to stand firm in his beliefs. There’s joy in their wedding, but there are tough lessons about love, faith, racism, identity and truth.

When the whole family sing the song towards the end of the show it takes on a different, deeper meaning. The family are leaving their old life in Austria to find a new life in Switzerland. At significant personal cost they’re rejecting any compromise with fascism, and are about to make a fresh start, stepping with courage, into an unknown future.

So long, farewell
Au revoir, auf widersehen
I’d like to stay and taste my first champagne

So long, farewell
Auf widersehen, goodbye
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye

I’m glad to go, I cannot tell a lie
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly

The sun has gone to bed and so must I
So long, farewell
Auf widersehen, goodbye
Goodbye

I’m musing on times of transition in my life when I need the courage to say, ‘So Long, Farewell’ to an old and familiar part of my life to move on to an unknown future…

In The Sound of Music, I particularly love the wisdom of the Mother Abbess and her interpretation of practical faith, often quoting scriptural references to the hills and mountains as places of safety and hope.

This morning I read Isaiah 25: ‘On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines.’ It’s a picture of the best life in the mountains that the Mother Abbess could have referenced.

The text continues, ‘…he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.’ There’s the certainty of hope that’s worth anticipating!