Maria Augusta von Trapp

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Maria Augusta von Trapp (1944)

Maria Augusta von Trapp (born January 26, 1905 in Vienna ; † March 28, 1987 in Morrisville , Vermont , USA ) was an Austrian singer and writer who emigrated to the USA after the "Anschluss" of Austria to the "Third Reich" Applied for American citizenship in 1944.

Life

The family of the singer Trapp rehearses before a concert in Boston in 1941. Maria is the third from the left, in dark costume. The conductor is probably the priest Franz Wasner .
Arrival certificate from Maria von Trapp in Niagara Falls, New York , dated December 30, 1942.

She was born as Maria Augusta Kutschera in simple circumstances in Vienna. Her mother died a few days after the birth, and she lost her father three years later. After that, she grew up with her grandmother and a guardian.

She was trained to be a teacher and, after a conversion experience, joined the Roman Catholic League Neuland . She worked as an educator at the monastery school of the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg and wanted to join the order as a postulant . In 1925 the abbess sent her as a tutor to the convalescent Maria , daughter of the famous Austrian corvette captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp . On November 26, 1927, she became the second wife of the widower Trapp, with whom she had daughters Rosemarie and Eleonore in 1929 and 1931.

The children from his first marriage addressed them as “mother” to distinguish them from their biological mamá (stress on the second syllable).

Since the family lost their entire fortune in 1935, they founded a family choir with her husband's children (five daughters, two sons). Franz Wasner , the local chaplain of the Trapp family, took over the musical direction . As early as 1937, the choir won first prize in the folk singing competition at the Salzburg Festival .

As a monarchist-minded officer, Georg Ludwig von Trapp faced major difficulties when Austria was "annexed" to the "Third Reich" in 1938 . After renting their property in Aigen to a religious order, the family emigrated to the USA that same year , where they accompanied Franz Wasner. The son Johannes was born there in 1939. The family settled in Stowe , Vermont , where they built a house called Cor Unum .

The family also went on concert tours in the USA and mostly performed under the name Trapp Family Singers . After the end of the Second World War, she organized an aid operation under the name Trapp Family Austrian Relief Inc. and collected clothing and food for Austria . After the death of Georg Ludwig Trapp in 1947, Johanna left the family choir, later Werner († 2007) left. Martina died early, Eleonore started her own family, and Rosemarie was no longer available for tours due to stage fright.

The choir went on several tours a. a. through South America and Australia . In 1950 Maria Augusta von Trapp performed with her choir at the Salzburg Festival. In 1956 the choir, which had given around 2000 concerts around the world, was dissolved. The surviving "children" still live on the ranch in America today.

Maria Augusta von Trapp wrote her memoirs in 1952 under the title From Monastery to World Success. The book was filmed in 1956 under the title The Trapp Family and 1958 The Trapp Family in America with great success. The “educational” excesses of beating on the children, described by Maria Augusta von Trapp with pride, were not mentioned. In 1959 the story was brought to the stage - a little bit embellished - in the musical The Sound of Music and was very successful in North America for years. The film adaptation of this musical in 1965 (German title Meine Lieder - Meine Träume ), directed by Robert Wise with the main actors Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer , was also a triumph for 20th Century Fox Studios. In 1991 it was adapted as an anime series.

Maria Augusta von Trapp died in Morrisville on March 28, 1987 at the age of 82. She left two daughters and a son.

children

Surname Date of birth Remarks
Rosemarie von Trapp February 8, 1929 worked as a singer and missionary in Papua New Guinea, lives in Vermont
Eleonore von Trapp May 14, 1931 married Hugh David Campbell in 1954 and has seven daughters, she lives with her family in Waitsfield, Vermont
Johannes von Trapp January 17, 1939 married Lynne Peterson in 1969 and has a son (Sam, manager of the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe) and a daughter, Kristina

Awards

Trapp family honored in Braunau (2007)

Works

  • The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. 1949 (German: The Trapp family. From monastery to global success . Translated from the English by Elisabeth Belnay. Vienna, Frick 1952).
  • Around the Year with the Trapp Family. 1955 (Ger .: Celebrating with the Trapp family . Vienna, Frick 1960).
  • A Family on Wheels: Further Adventures of the Trapp Family Singers. 1959 (German: The Trapp family. From world success to world success . Vienna, Frick 1963).
  • Yesterday, Today and Forever: The Religious Life of a Remarkable Family. 1952. (German: Yesterday, today, forever . Translated from the English by Martha Eberherr. Vienna, Frick 1954).
  • Maria. 1972.

literature

Web links

Commons : Trapp family  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Real Story of the Von Trapp Family. In: www.archives.gov. Retrieved April 22, 2016 .