Agathe von Trapp

Infobox Person
name = Agathe Johanna Erwina Gobertina von Trapp


caption = Petition for Naturalization, 1948
birth_date = birth date and age|1913|3|12
birth_place = flagicon|Austria Pola, Istria, Austria
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Singer and author

Agathe von Trapp (born March 12, 1913) is the eldest daughter of Baron Georg von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp.

The younger Agathe, her six siblings, father, and stepmother, Maria Augusta von Trapp, comprised the world-renowned Trapp Family Singers, who inspired the 1959 Broadway musical and the 1965 Academy Award-winning Best Picture "The Sound of Music". 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.

Agathe sang first soprano in the choir, together with her sister Johanna von Trapp.

After her father died in 1947 and the family eventually ceased performing, Agathe moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she helped operate a private kindergarten for 35 years until her retirement in 1993. [ [http://www.examiner.com/a-222656~M__Hirsh_Goldberg__Superman_and__Sound_of_Music___A_cautionary_tale.html M. Hirsh Goldberg: Superman and ‘Sound of Music’: A cautionary tale - Examiner.com ] ] [ [http://www.arlindo-correia.com/020504.html The Trapp Family - The Sound of Music ] ]

Agathe is the author of 2003's "Agathe von Trapp: Memories Before And After The Sound Of Music", which chronicles the true story behind the legendary film and includes dozens of her hand-drawn maps, portraits, and other illustrations.

Of the seven original von Trapp children, only two survive: Agathe and Maria Franziska, born in 1914. Rosemarie, born in 1929, Eleonore, born in 1931 and Johannes, born in 1939, are also alive, but they are half-siblings and not part of the seven original Trapp Family Singers siblings featured in "The Sound of Music". [ [http://www.plymouth.edu/theatre_coll/som/trapps.htm ETC ] ] [ [http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html The Real Story of the Von Trapp Family ] ] She was portrayed in the film as the character Liesel.Agathe von Trapp became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1948.

References

External links

* [http://www.arlindo-correia.com/020504.html Article: The Trapp Family - The Sound of Music]
* [http://www.examiner.com/a-222656~M__Hirsh_Goldberg__Superman_and__Sound_of_Music___A_cautionary_tale.html Article from Baltimore Examiner]
* [http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/exhibits/von-trapp.html The von Trapp Family in Federal Records]
* [http://www.trappfamily.com/familystory/history.php?tid=156 Listing from Trapp Family Lodge]