The Captain von Trapp
and his seven children
Convent life was difficult for Maria. She
missed the mountains and the countryside
and she struggled with the strict routines and
schedules the nuns maintained. Sensing her
need to leave the confines of the Abbey, the
Reverend Mother Abbess told her of a Captain
von Trapp who was in search of a governess for
one of his children (also named Maria), who
was recovering from scarlet fever. While she
did not like the idea, Maria left the Abbey in
October 1926, and moved into the von Trapp
villa. She was 21 years old.
Georg von Trapp was a kind-hearted,
distinguished looking gentlemen, not the gruff,
distant man portrayed in the musical. He was a
widow and father to seven children—two boys
and five girls—aged 6 through 15.
While Maria’s job was to care for the young
Maria von Trapp, she soon discovered that all
of the children needed her. She took them to
the countryside, tutored them with their studies
and taught them songs and how to sing in
three-part harmony. While her fondness for the
children grew, the Captain began to fall in love
with Maria.
In 1927, Captain Georg von Trapp asked Maria
to marry him and become a mother to his
children. Maria and the Captain were married
in November 1927.
The von Trapp Family Singers
Georg and Maria von Trapp had two more
children. As their family grew, the political
climate of Austria was changing. In 1933
Austrian-born Adolf Hitler became the ruler
of Germany. When he closed the Austrian
border to Germans, many businesses and banks
failed. Austria and the von Trapps were in dire
financial straits.
The family realized that their mansion could
be put to use, so they turned the villa into an
inn and took in boarders to make money. One
of their guests was Father Wasner, a priest
who came to the villa to say Mass one Sunday.
Father Wasner was impressed with the musical
abilities of the von Trapp family and he began
to teach them folk songs and rehearsed them
daily. The von Trapp Family Singers were born.
The family never performed publicly until the
summer of 1936 when they were encouraged
to perform at the Salzburg Music Festival, a
world-renowned event held each year. Captain
von Trapp was horrified at the thought of his
family singing in public, but he relented and
allowed them to perform “just for this one
time”. The family was entered in the amateur
contest, sang three beautiful songs and won!
After the Salzburg Music Festival, the family
received more offers to perform, including
on the radio. On request from Chancellor
Schuschnigg, Austria’s Chief Executive, they
were even invited to sing at a state reception
with the famous Vienna Philharmonic! The
following year, the family went on a European
tour but the politics of Austria were changing.
On the evening of March 11, 1938, Germany
invaded Austria.
The Escape
After the invasion of Austria by the Nazis,
Georg grew more nationalistic. He defied
orders to fly the German flag with the swastika
emblazoned in the center, he refused to
perform the Nazi salute and he declined an
order to join the German navy as a submarine
commander. When an invitation came for the
family to sing at Hitler’s birthday celebration,
they knew they could not snub Hitler any
longer. It was time to leave their beloved
country.
Here is where the true story and the
fictionalized one diverge. In the musical
The
Sound of Music
, the family escapes by hiking
over the Alps into Switzerland. In truth, there
was no such escape. The family boarded a train
headed for Italy. The next day the Austrian
border was closed—no one could enter or leave
the country. The door back to their homeland
was shut.
Georg insisted that they go to America—they
had contacts there from their concert career
and they could perform to make money. In
October 1938, they were on their way to the
United States.
The von Trapps returned to Austria briefly
in 1939, but after WWII began, they settled
in America and made the new country their
home. They had a successful career performing
for several years, and then in 1943 the family
moved to Stowe, Vermont to start a music
camp.
Maria von Trapp died in 1987, 40 years after
her husband, but their legacy continues. As
audiences flock to theaters to see the epic and
timeless musical based on their life, the story
of the von Trapp family and their spirit lives
on.
Nonnberg Abbey, Salzburg, Austria
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