The Trapp Family Singers
I’m certain that everyone reading this has seen the film The Sound of Music, probably more times than they would like to admit. Who could forget that daring escape from the Nazis in the middle of a show! It was the perfect ending to a sweet, romantic story. But the true story is quite different.
In 1926, in Salzburg, Austria, Maria Kutschera was hired to tutor one of the von Trapp children who was recovering from scarlet fever, but she came to adore all seven of the family’s children. Their father, Georg von Trapp was, in reality, a warm and loving father who enjoyed his family. When he asked Maria to marry him in 1927, she was not in love with him. Maria had been training to become a nun, but the nuns convinced her that it was God’s will that she marry. Maria and Georg tied the knot that same year. At the time, Maria felt that she was essentially marrying the children, but she came to love her husband during the years that followed.
In 1938, the Nazis occupied Austria, and the von Trapp family decided to leave the country immediately. They boarded a train for Italy and planned a singing tour of the United States. That same year, they performed in New York City as the Trapp Family Choir, dressed in black and white Austrian folk costumes and singing in German.
ARRIVAL IN VERMONT, TOURING, BOOK, BROADWAY MUSICAL, FILM
The von Trapps settled in the US in 1942, purchasing a farm in Stowe, Vermont, where they started a music camp. Maria was the driving force of the family, determined to create a top vocal group. Known for her quick temper and iron will, she hired an agent who changed their billing name to The Trapp Family Singers, saying that sounded less “churchy.”
The group toured for eight months each year and worked on the farm in the summer. The rigorous schedule and isolation of being on the road proved to be too much for some of the children, now 10 in number and wanting to pursue other paths. By the late 1940s, Maria was forced to hire non-family members to join the group.
After Georg’s death in 1947 (at age 67), the future was in Maria’s hands. In an effort to promote the family, Maria wrote a book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which was published in 1949 by J.B. Lippincott Company. The memoir was a success, reviving the popularity of the group. In the 1950s, they recorded for RCA and even made it onto Elvis Presley’s 1957 Christmas album. Also at that time, Mary Martin – a legendary Broadway star in the ‘40s and ‘50s – read Maria’s book and as a direct result “The Sound of Music” was born as a Broadway musical in 1959. The film we know and love was released in 1965.
TOURING DAYS END, CURRENT ACTIVITY
Consisting of mostly outsiders, the Trapp Family Singers stopped touring in 1955. In 1956, Maria and three of her daughters went to New Guinea as missionaries. One of the daughters remained there for 30 years, while Maria returned to run the family lodge. The other children chose a variety of careers – doctor, teacher, farmer and music teacher. One returned to Austria and one married and died in childbirth.
Two of the von Trapp children settled in Vermont. The oldest son of Georg and Maria, Johannes, took over management of the lodge from his mother. Over the years, he expanded the business, even adding a brewery. Maria was still going strong when she appeared on one of Dinah Shore’s daytime variety talk shows in the 1970s. She passed away in 1987 at age 82.
Family members have continued to perform throughout the years. The latest generation is a quartet of siblings, great-grandchildren of Georg and Maria. They sing contemporary music, breathing new life into the von Trapp name. The family has cemented its musical legacy by providing a beautiful outdoor venue for Stowe’s Performing Arts summer Music In the Meadow concert series at the Trapp Family Lodge. In Stowe, Vermont, “the hills are still alive…”
(by Carol Starkey)
