By Joan Gearin
Maria von Trapp, picture from her Declaration of Intention, dated 21, 1944 january. (Records of District Courts associated with united states of america, RG 21)
I first saw the film The noise of Music as being a youngster, probably into the belated 1960s. We liked the performing, and Maria had been therefore pretty and kind! I was struck and annoyed by the somewhat sanitized story of the von Trapp family it told, as well as the bad 1960s hairdos and costumes as I grew older, more aware of world history, and saturated by viewing the movie at least once yearly. “It’s maybe maybe maybe not historically accurate!” I would protest, an archivist that is small the creating. Into the 1970s that are early saw Maria von Trapp herself on Dinah Shore’s tv series, and child, ended up being she in contrast to the Julie Andrews type of Maria! She did not seem like Julie, and she found being a force that is true of. In taking into consideration the fictionalized film version of Maria von Trapp in comparison with this genuinely Maria that is real von, We arrived to appreciate that the tale regarding the von Trapp family ended up being most likely one thing nearer to human, and as a consequence a lot more interesting, compared to movie led me to think.
Area of the tale for the genuine von Trapp household are available in the documents of this National Archives. Once they fled the Nazi regime in Austria, the von Trapps traveled to America. Their entry to the united states of america and their applications that are subsequent citizenship are documented into the holdings associated with the nationwide Archives and Records management.
Reality from Fiction
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (published in 1949), there were many alterations and omissions while the Sound of Music was generally based on the first section of Maria’s book.
- Maria stumbled on the von Trapp family members in 1926 as being a tutor for just one of this young kiddies, Maria, who had been coping with scarlet temperature, not quite as governess to any or all the young ones.
- Maria and Georg hitched in 1927, 11 years prior to the grouped family members left Austria, maybe not prior to the Nazi takeover of Austria.
- Maria failed to marry Georg von Trapp because she was in love with him. She fell in love with the children at first sight, not their father as she said in her autobiography Maria. Her to marry him, she was not sure if she should abandon her religious calling but was advised by the nuns to do God’s will and marry Georg when he asked. “we actually and undoubtedly had not been in love. We liked him but don’t love him. Nonetheless, we liked the young kids, therefore in ways we actually married the youngsters. . . . By and by we discovered to love him a lot more than i’ve ever liked before or after.”
- There were 10, perhaps maybe not 7 von Trapp kids.
- The names, ages, and sexes for the young ones had been changed.
- Your family had been musically inclined before Maria arrived, but she did help them learn to sing madrigals.
- Georg, not even close to being the detached, cold-blooded patriarch associated with family members whom disapproved of music, as portrayed in the 1st half The Sound of Music, had been really a mild, warmhearted moms and dad whom enjoyed musical tasks along with his family. Although this change in their character may have made for a significantly better tale in emphasizing Maria’s healing influence on the von Trapps, it distressed their household significantly.
- Your family didn’t secretly escape on the Alps to freedom in Switzerland, holding their suitcases and instruments that are musical. As daughter Maria said in a 2003 meeting printed in Opera Information, “We did tell people who we had been likely to America to sing. And then we would not climb up over hills along with our hefty suitcases and instruments. We left by train, pretending nothing.”
- The von Trapps traveled to Italy, maybe perhaps not Switzerland. Georg came to be in Zadar (now in Croatia), which at that right time ended up being area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Zadar became element of Italy in 1920, and Georg ended up being thus A italian resident, along with his spouse and kids too. Your family had a agreement by having a us scheduling representative once they left Austria. They contacted the representative from Italy and asked for fare to America.
- As opposed to the fictional Max Detweiler, pushy music promoter, the von Trapps’ priest, the Reverend Franz Wasner, acted because their musical manager for more than twenty years.
- Though she had been a caring and person that is loving Maria was not constantly because sweet as the fictional Maria. She tended to erupt in upset outbursts consisting of yelling, tossing things, and doors that are slamming. Her emotions would instantly be relieved and good humor restored, while other members of the family, especially her spouse, found it less very easy to recover. In her own 2003 interview, younger Maria confirmed that her stepmother “had a dreadful mood. . . . And from 1 minute to another, you did not understand what hit her. We had been perhaps not accustomed this. But we took it like a thunderstorm that could pass, as the next moment she could possibly be excellent.”
The true von Trapps
Georg von Trapp, created in 1880, became a nationwide hero being a captain within the Austrian navy during World War I. He commanded submarines with valor and received the name of “Ritter” (knight), and later baron, as an incentive for his accomplishments that are heroic. Georg married Agathe Whitehead, the granddaughter of Robert Whitehead, the creator of this torpedo, in 1912. They’d seven kiddies together: Rupert, 1911–1992; Agathe, 1913–2010; Maria, 1914–2014; Werner, 1915–2007; Hedwig, 1917–1972; Johanna, 1919–1994; and Martina, 1921–1952. After World War I, Austria destroyed every one of its seaports, and Georg retired through the navy. Their spouse passed away in 1922 of scarlet fever. Your family ended up being devastated by her death and not able to keep residing in destination where that they had been therefore delighted, Georg offered their home in Pola (now Pula, Croatia) and purchased an property in Salzburg.
Photographs from von Trapp Declaration of Intention papers
(Records of District Courts regarding the united states of america, RG 21)
Maria Augusta Kutschera was created in Vienna, Austria, in 1905. She had been orphaned as a child and grew up being russian mail order wives an atheist and socialist by the relative that is abusive. While going to the State Teachers’ university of Progressive Education in Vienna, she inadvertently went to a Palm Sunday solution, thinking that it is a concert of Bach music, the place where a priest had been talking. Years later on she recalled inside her autobiography Maria, “Now I’d heard from my uncle that most of these Bible stories had been inventions and legends that are old and therefore there had beenn’t a term of truth inside them. Nevertheless the real method this man chatted simply swept me personally off my legs. I happened to be entirely overrun.” Right after, Maria graduated from university, and for that reason of her awakening that is religious joined the Benedictine Abbey of Nonnberg in Salzburg as a newcomer. She considered that “These . . while she struggled using the unaccustomed guidelines and control, . 2 yrs had been actually essential to get my character that is twisted and overgrown self-will cut down seriously to size.”
But, her wellness endured not receiving the workout and air that is fresh which she had been accustomed. Whenever Georg von Trapp approached the Reverend mom for the Abbey looking for an instructor for his ill child, Maria ended up being opted for, partly due to her training and ability as an instructor, but additionally as a result of concern on her wellness. She was designed to stay because of the von Trapps for 10 months, during the end of which she would formally go into the convent.
Maria tutored young Maria and developed a caring and relationship that is loving all of the kids. She enjoyed singing them involved in outdoor activities with them and getting. During this time period, Georg fell so in love with Maria and asked her to keep with him and be a mother that is second their kids. Of their proposition, Maria stated, “Jesus should have made him term it in that way because if he had just expected us to marry him i may not need said yes.” Maria Kutschera and Georg von Trapp married in 1927. That they had three young ones together: Rosmarie, 1929– ; Eleonore, 1931– ; and Johannes, 1939–.
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