Historical eventNovember 161959

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music, a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

Everything on November 16Original source

In context

When
Monday, November 16 195967 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1950s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1959.

Type: dramatico-musical work.

What happened

History After viewing The Trapp Family , a 1956 West German film about the Trapp family , and its 1958 sequel ( The Trapp Family in America ), stage director Vincent J. Donehue thought that the project would be perfect for his friend Mary Martin ; Broadway producers Leland Hayward and Richard Halliday (Martin's husband) agreed. [ 1 ] The producers originally envisioned a non-musical play that would be written by Lindsay and Crouse and would feature songs from the repertoire of the Trapp Family Singers.

The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp.

November 16 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1959The Sound of Music
  2. 1992Hoxne Hoard
  3. 1992Suffolk
  4. 1997Wei Jingsheng
  5. 1997China
  6. 20022002–2004 SARS outbreak
  7. 2004Half-Life 2
  8. 2005Australia men's national soccer team
  9. 2009Space Shuttle program
  10. 2020El Dorado Fire
  11. 2022Artemis program

Also in 1959

  • September 13Luna 2The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) struck the Moon, the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.
  • September 15Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
  • June 14Disneyland MonorailDisneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
  • August 17Miles DavisAmerican musician Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed jazz recordings o…
  • November 21Disc jockeyAmerican disc jockey Alan Freed (pictured), who popularized the term rock and roll, was fired from WABC-AM for his role in the payola sca…
  • March 181959 Tibetan uprisingTibetan uprising: After the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, Chinese forces bombarded the monastery, infl…
  • March 18Hawaii Admission ActThe Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.
  • March 31Dalai Lama's escape from ChinaAfter a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India.

Everything we record for 1959 →

Sources

Cite this page

“The Sound of Music”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/the-sound-of-music-1959-november-16, accessed October 24, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did The Sound of Music happen?

November 16 1959 — 67 years ago, on a Monday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.