Maria von Trapp

Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp

photo from Declaration of Intention, 21 January 1944
Born Maria Augusta Kutschera
26 January 1905(1905-01-26)
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died 28 March 1987(1987-03-28) (aged 82)
Morrisville, Vermont, USA
Spouse Georg Ludwig von Trapp (1880–1947) (m. 1927–1947) «start: (1927-11-26)–end+1: (1948)»"Marriage: Georg Ludwig von Trapp (1880–1947) to Maria von Trapp" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_von_Trapp)
Children Rosmarie von Trapp (b. 1928)[1] Eleonora von Trapp (b. 1931)
Johannes von Trapp (b. 1939)

Maria Augusta von Trapp (26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987), also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers.[2][3] Her story served as the inspiration for a 1956 German film that in turn inspired the Broadway musical The Sound of Music.[4]

Contents

Early life

She was born on 26 January 1905 aboard a train heading from her parents' village in Tyrol to a hospital in Vienna, Austria.[4] She was an orphan by her seventh birthday and graduated from the State Teachers College for Progressive Education in Vienna at age 18, in 1923.[5] She entered Nonnberg Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Salzburg, intending to become a nun.[6] While still a school teacher there, she was asked to teach one of the seven children of widowed naval commander Georg Ludwig von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp. Agathe had died from scarlet fever. Maria appears to have been pregnant with her first child, Rosmarie, when she and Georg married on 26 November 1927. Their children are: Rosmarie (born 1928), Eleonora (born 1931) and Johannes (born 1939).[7][8]

Financial problems

In 1935, Trapp lost his money, which had been safely invested in a bank in London. The Captain, to help a friend in the banking business named Mrs. Lammer, had withdrawn the money from the English bank and deposited it in Mrs. Lammer's bank, which soon failed. Austria had been experiencing economic difficulties during The Great Depression.[1]

To survive, the Trapps sent away most of their servants, moved into the top floor of their home, and rented the empty rooms to students of the Catholic University. The Archbishop sent Father Franz Wasner to stay with them as their chaplain and they started singing.

Early musical career

Soprano Lotte Lehmann heard the family sing, and she suggested they perform at concerts. When the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg heard them on the radio, he invited them to perform in Vienna.[9]

After performing at a festival in 1935, they became a popular touring act. Shortly before the German annexation of Austria in 1938, the family traveled to Italy and then to the United States for a concert tour, and their home was confiscated by the Nazis.[10]

Initially calling themselves the "Trapp Family Choir", the von Trapps began to perform in the United States and Canada. They performed in New York City at The Town Hall on 10 December 1938.[4][9][11][12] The New York Times wrote:

There was something unusually lovable and appealing about the modest, serious singers of this little family aggregation as they formed a close semicircle about their self-effacing director for their initial offering, the handsome Mme. von Trapp in simple black, and the youthful sisters garbed in black and white Austrian folk costumes enlivened with red ribbons. It was only natural to expect work of exceeding refinement from them, and one was not disappointed in this.[4][12]

Charles Wagner was their first booking agent, then they signed on with Frederick Christian Schang. Thinking the name "Trapp Family Choir" too churchy, Schang Americanized their repertoire and, following his suggestion, the group changed its name to the "Trapp Family Singers".[10] The family, which by then included ten children, was soon touring the world giving concert performances.[4] Alix Williamson served as the group's publicist for over two decades.

After the war, they founded the Trapp Family Austrian Relief fund, which sent tons of food and clothing to people impoverished in Austria.

Move to the United States

In the 1940s the family moved to Stowe, Vermont, where they ran a music camp when they were not touring. In 1944, Maria and her stepdaughters Johanna, Martina, Maria, Hedwig, and Agathe applied for U.S. citizenship. Georg never applied to become a citizen. Rupert and Werner became citizens by serving during World War II. Rosmarie and Eleonora became citizens by virtue of their mother's citizenship. Johannes was born in the United States in September 1939 during a concert tour in Philadelphia.[1]

Georg von Trapp died in 1947 in Vermont from lung cancer.

The Trapp family made a series of 78 rpm discs for RCA Victor in the 1950s, some of which were later issued on RCA Camden LPs. There were also a few later recordings released on LPs, including some stereo sessions. The family also made an appearance on an Elvis Presley Christmas record. In 1957, the Trapp Family Singers disbanded and went their separate ways. Maria and three of her children became missionaries in the South Pacific.

In the mid-1960s Maria moved back to Vermont to manage the Trapp Family Lodge. In the 1960s, Maria began to turn over management of the Lodge to her son, Johannes von Trapp, although, at first, she was reluctant to do so.[13]

Death

Maria von Trapp died of heart failure on 28 March 1987, in Morrisville, Vermont, three days after an operation.[4] She had outlived her husband by forty years, he having died before the book, musical, and films appeared. Maria, her husband Georg, Hedwig von Trapp, and Martina von Trapp are interred in the family cemetery at the Lodge.

Children

Name Birth Death Notes
Rosmarie von Trapp 8 February 1928 or 1929 [14] In Maria's Declaration of Intention of January 1, 1944 and her Petition for Naturalization signed on May 26, 1948, she stated under oath that she was married on November 26, 1927, and that Rosmarie was born on February 8, 1928.[14][7] However Maria used the year 1929 in her book and the year 1929 is used at the Von Trapp family website.
Eleonora von Trapp 14 May 1931 [14] Married Hugh David Campbell in 1954 and had seven daughters with him, currently lives with her family in Waitsfield, Vermont.[3]
Johannes von Trapp 17 January 1939 [14] Married Lynne Peterson in 1969 and had one son and one daughter with her.[3] He became manager of the family lodge in the 1970s.[15]

The Sound of Music

Maria's book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, published in 1949, was a best-seller. It was made into two successful German/Austrian films:

The book was later adapted into The Sound of Music, the successful Broadway musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which resulted in a popular U.S. motion picture. The Sound of Music, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway in the fall of 1959, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel. It was a success, running for more than three years. The film version set box office records, and she received about $500,000 ($3.8 million today) in royalties.[4] Maria von Trapp makes a cameo appearance in the movie version of The Sound of Music. For an instant, she, her daughter Rosmarie, and Werner's daughter Barbara can be seen walking past an archway during the song, "I Have Confidence", at the line, "I must stop these doubts, all these worries/If I don't, I just know I'll turn back."[16] Maria Von Trapp sang "Edelweiss" with Julie Andrews on The Julie Andrews Hour in 1973.

Writings

References

  1. ^ a b c Gearin, Joan. "The Real Story of the von Trapp Family". National Archives and Records Administration. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05. "Maria Kutschera and Georg von Trapp married in 1927. They had three children together: Rosmarie, 1928– ; Eleonora, 1931– ; and Johannes, 1939–." 
  2. ^ "Maria Augusta Kutschera von Trapp". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/603410/Maria-Augusta-Kutschera-von-Trapp. Retrieved 2011-01-09. "Maria Augusta Kutschera (b. Jan. 26, 1905, Vienna—d. March 28, 1987, Morrisville, Vt., U.S.), the best-known member of the family, wrote The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (1949). She recounted her experience as an orphan and novitiate in a Benedictine convent in Salzburg. As a governess, she won the hearts of the seven children of a widower, Freiherr (Baron)..." 
  3. ^ a b c "Tribute to Baron von Trapp Joined by Country He Fled". New York Times. July 14, 1997. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/14/us/tribute-to-baron-von-trapp-joined-by-country-he-fled.html. Retrieved 2011-01-08. "The ceremonies ended today in a morning Mass, at which the cadets stood watch during a performance of Franz Schubert's German Mass, then laid a wreath at the grave of Baron and Baroness von Trapp, who were portrayed by Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews in the 1965 film The Sound of Music. ... The six surviving children are Eleonore Campbell, Rosmarie Trapp and Maria, Werner, Johannes and Agathe von Trapp, all of whom live in the United States." 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Kerr, Peter (29 March 1987). "Maria von Trapp, Whose Life was 'Sound of Music', is Dead". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEED91738F93AA15750C0A961948260. Retrieved 2007-07-21. "Maria Augusta von Trapp, the guiding force behind a family of singers who won world renown when their story was portrayed in the play and film The Sound of Music, died of heart failure yesterday in Morrisville, Vt., three days after undergoing surgery. She was 82 years old, and had lived in Stowe, Vermont, for more than 40 years. ... She is survived by a son, Johannes, of Stowe; two daughters, Eleonore Campbell of Waitsfield, Vermont, and Rosmarie Trapp of Pittsburgh; two stepsons, Rupert, of Stowe, and Werner, of Waitsfield; three stepdaughters, Agathe von Trapp of Glyndon, Maryland, Maria F. Trapp of Papua, New Guinea, and Johanna von Trapp of San Diego, and by 29 grandchildren." 
  5. ^ In December, 2007, inquiry was made to a Vienna tourist organization, inquiring about the "State Teachers College for Progressive Education." The following reply was received: "We thank you for your email and your interest in Vienna. We asked at several institutions like the "Wiener Stadtschulrat" and the "Dachverband für Selbstbestimmtes Lernen" but none could tell us anything about such a school. Probably this college has or had a German name. But a 'State Teachers College for Progressive Education' is not known in Vienna. We are sorry not being of assistance to you in that case. With best regards."
  6. ^ Maria, in her 1949 book, describes herself as a fifth grade school teacher and a postulant. A postulant is a person who is merely requesting admission to the novitiate. The request may or may not be granted.
  7. ^ a b "Declaration of Intention of Maria Von Trapp's". January 21, 1944. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/images/trapp-intention-l.jpg. Retrieved 09-05-2011. 
  8. ^ This is disputed by the von Trapp family. The evidence is the information supplied by Maria under oath when she filled in her Declaration of Intention for naturalization in 1944. She gave the date of the marriage as November 26, 1927 and the date of Rosmarie's birth as February 8, 1928. She confirmed those dates in her Petition for Naturalization signed on May 26, 1948. On her wedding day she would have been 3 months and 14 days pregnant.
  9. ^ a b "Family Choir". Time magazine. December 19, 1938. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772134,00.html. Retrieved 2011-01-07. "When Soprano Lotte Lehmann heard them, she suggested concerts. When Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg heard them over the radio, he invited them to sing in Vienna. Soon the von Trapps were touring the whole map of Europe." 
  10. ^ a b Trapp, Maria Augusta (1953). The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. ISBN 978-0385028967. http://books.google.com/books?id=MHANAAAACAAJ&dq. "After Armistice day when the boys [Maria's sons] were still in Europe, they had gone for a short visit to Salzburg and found that our old home there had been confiscated by Heinrich Himmler; that it had been made his headquarters for the last period of that cruel war; that the chapel had been turned into a beer parlour; and what had been Father Wasner's room had become Hitler's quarters when he came there." 
  11. ^ It should be noted, however, that the "seven young singing von Trapps" ranged in age from 16 to 27 and were not young children.
  12. ^ a b "Group Heard in Choral Works of Five Centuries in Its First Appearance Here". New York Times. December 11, 1938. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0710FA3A581A7A93C3A81789D95F4C8385F9. Retrieved 2009-01-05. "An intriguing array of choral selections, culled from the music of the last five centuries, and representative works for the early vertical flutes known as recorders, was presented by the Trapp Family Choir at their first New York concert given yesterday afternoon at Town Hall." 
  13. ^ Trapp, Maria Augusta (1972). Maria: Maria Von Trapp, My Own Story. ISBN 0902088432. http://books.google.com/books?id=m36hAgAACAAJ&dq. "Like many other parents who have been leaders for a very long time, I simply didn't know how to step down without bitterness and reproaches ... There I found myself in the middle of a generation gap." 
  14. ^ a b c d "Petition for Naturalization for Maria von Trapp". NARA. May 26, 1948. http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/publications/prologue/2005/winter/images/petition-p1-l.jpg&c=/publications/prologue/2005/winter/images/petition-p1.caption.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
  15. ^ Clifford, Stephanie (December 24, 2008). "Von Trapps Reunited, Without the Singing". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/25vontrapp.html?_r=1&em. Retrieved 2008-12-26. "Still, Johannes von Trapp, the 10th and youngest child, remembers growing up relatively anonymously in a quiet, strict home. ... By 1969, he had graduated from Dartmouth, completed a master’s degree from the Yale school of forestry and was planning on an academic career in natural resources. He returned to Stowe to put the inn’s finances in order, and ended up running the place. He tried to leave, moving to a ranch in British Columbia in 1977 and staying a few years, then moving to a ranch in Montana. But the professional management in Stowe kept quitting. 'Now I’m stuck here,' he said." 
  16. ^ Anderson, William (1998). The World of the Trapp Family. Anderson Publications. ISBN 1890757004. 

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