Maria Franziska von Trapp

Maria Agatha Franziska Gobertina von Trapp
Petition for Naturalization, 1948
Born	September 28, 1914 (1914-09-28) (age 97) Zell am See, Salzburg, Austria-Hungary
Occupation	Singer and missionary
Parents	Agatha Whitehead von Trapp Georg Ludwig von Trapp

Maria Agatha Franziska Gobertina von Trapp (born on 28 September 1914 in Austria) is the second-oldest daughter of Georg Ludwig von Trapp and Agatha Whitehead von Trapp. She was a member of the Trapp Family Singers, whose lives were the inspiration for the musical play The Sound of Music. She was portrayed as the character "Louisa." She is the last surviving sibling portrayed in the film.

Biography

Along with her six siblings, father, and stepmother, Maria Augusta von Trapp, she was part of the world-renowned Trapp Family Singers, who inspired the 1959 Broadway musical and the 1965 Academy Award-winning Best Picture The Sound of Music. Von Trapp sang second soprano in the choir, together with her sister Martina von Trapp.

The von Trapps fled Austria after the German annexation of Austria, fearing reprisals resulting from declining to sing at Hitler's birthday party and Georg von Trapp's refusal to accept a commission in the German Navy. They came to the United States in 1938, settled in Vermont in 1942, and performed throughout the country. Baron von Trapp died in 1947. The family continued to tour and concertize until 1955, at which time Maria von Trapp and her mother became lay missionaries in Papua, New Guinea. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1948 and now lives on her family's lodge in Stowe, Vermont.^[1]

From July 22 to July 27, 2008, she visited her childhood home in Salzburg/Aigen and her birthplace in Zell-am-See.^[2][3][4] Accompanying her were her half-brother Johannes and her sister-in-law Erika (Werner's widow). During their visit, the group met with Ernst Florian Winter, the husband of her sister Johanna von Trapp (1919–1994).

She is the only survivor of the seven original von Trapp children. Three half-siblings, Rosemarie von Trapp (born 1929), Eleonore von Trapp (born 1931), and Johannes von Trapp (born 1939), are also alive, but they were not featured in The Sound of Music.

References

1. ^ Australian School of Pacific Administration Blog entry mentioning her return to the family lodge
2. ^ ‘Sound of Music’ Villa Opens for Business. New York Times, 29 July 2008.
3. ^ Peterkin, Tom (26 July 2008). "Maria Franziska von Trapp returns to home that inspired The Sound of Music". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2460543/Maria-von-Trapp-returns-to-home-that-inspired-The-Sound-of-Music.html. Retrieved 2008-12-26. "Seventy years after fleeing the Nazis, a 93-year-old woman whose family was immortalised in "The Sound of Music" has returned to Austria to visit her former home." 
4. ^ Maria Franziska von Trapp returns to "Sound of Music" home. Daily Mirror, 29 July 2008.

External links

• Maria Franziska von Trapp besucht Salzburg (derStandard.at)
• Maria von Trapp in Salzburg (kurier.at)
• Living in Stowe, Vermont
• Listing from Trapp Family Lodge
• The von Trapp Family in Federal Records

Persondata
Name	Trapp, Maria Franziska von
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1914-09-28
Place of birth	Zell am See, Salzburg, Austria-Hungary
Date of death
Place of death