The Death of a Legacy - the von Trapp Family Singers, who Inspired "The Sound of Music"

Maria Franziska von Trapp: Petition for USA naturalization, 1948

Many of us awoke to sad news today - Maria Franziska von Trapp, the last remaining member of this world-renowned singing group, died on February 18th at age 99. At first glance, many will think the mother was the final member, but Maria was in fact the second eldest daughter, played by Louisa in the stage musical and the film. There are several key differences between this real-life family and the fictional family of Broadway and Hollywood. Many people don't even realize that "The Sound of Music" was based on reality!

So, who were the von Trapps, really?


Well, first of all, both the Broadway musical and the subsequent film were based off of the book that Maria (the stepmother, not the daughter) wrote in 1947. Rodgers and Hammerstein changed and omitted certain parts of their remarkable story for the stage, and a legend was born. Generations have grown up with the familiar songs, and nearly everyone knows both "The Sound of Music" and "Do, a Deer," both of which are frequently taught at the elementary level to budding music students.

While many of us are familiar with the characters Captain Georg von Trapp, the governess Maria (played by the exquisite Julie Andrews), and the seven children: Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The real children of family von Trapp were: Rupert, Agathe, Maria Franziska, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna, and Martina. In fact, Georg was not a stoic and impersonal father, and Maria was not a nun. She was hired to be a tutor when Maria Franziska contracted scarlet fever, the same illness that caused her mother's death, and became unable to walk the 3 miles to school. Furthermore, Georg and Maria married in 1927, a full 11 years before the Nazi takeover of Austria. They had three children in addition to the musical 7: Rosmarie, Eleonore, and Johannes, who are still alive. That makes for 10 children total!

The von Trapp family was already quite musical when Maria arrived to be their tutor - Maria Franziska compared their home to a musical conservatory, with all of the children practicing and learning instruments. Their new tutor did teach them to sing madrigals, a challenging type of choral vocal music that involves close harmonies.

The family originally indulged in music as a hobby, and Georg did not even consider performing for audiences, thinking it low-class, until they lost the majority of their finances in an unfortunate business move in 1935. They began performing professionally in 1936, when they were invited by an Austrian Chancellor to sing in Vienna. Their escape from Austria is considerably more complicated than the musical would suggest - Georg was offered a position in the German Navy, and he knew that rejecting the promotion could lead to arrest. They fled to Italy, not Switzerland, and they went by train in the light of day, not trekking through the Alps during the night. Georg was an Italian citizen, and so all of his children and his wife had Italian citizenship as well. Because Italy was allied with Germany at this time, he was afraid that he and his family could be captured and sent back to Austria - so they fled to America, seeking protection from Nazi control. After a brief period in Pennsylvania, the family settled in Stowe, Vermont, where you can stay at their lodge which is still owned and operated by the three younger children that were not a part of the singing group.

The Broadway musical premiered on November 16th, 1959 and closed in June of 1963 after 1,143 performances. It ran for an incredible 2,385 in London's West End. The film, produced in 1965, starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, and was admitted to the National Film Registry in 2001. The 2013 remake with Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer has not been slated for any awards or recognition, and will likely fade into obscurity. For the record, I think Carrie has a fantastic voice and I think she got a lot of abuse for her role as Maria, but she should have been coached by someone - the "Climb Evry' Mountain" scene with the illustrious Audra McDonald was rife with second-hand embarrassment.

The film has slight differences from the stage musical, including the removal of two excellent songs starring Georg's fiancee, Baroness Elsa, and his friend, Max Detweiller - though I may be biased, having played Elsa in my high school's production of the musical. You can check out those two songs, "How Can Love Survive," and "No Way to Stop It," below. Clearly, removing them from the film was a travesty - a wrong made slightly less wrong by including them in the NBC remake.

"How Can Love Survive"

"No Way to Stop It"

Though the death of Maria Franziska von Trapp may be the end of an era, their legacy lives on in their incredible story which yielded books, plays, a musical, a film, and several documentaries. Their story may have been altered to ensure success, the intrigue of a singing family made up of a father, a step-mother, and seven children will never fade. As long as children are still taught sol-fege by singing "Do, a Deer," they will not be forgotten.