The Story Behind the Show
The Real Maria von Trapp
The real Maria (born Maria Augusta Kutschera) was indeed a postulant (prospective nun) at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, and she did serve the von Trapp family before marrying into it. But Hollywood, as always, took a few poetic liberties with her story. Here are some key differences:
- Maria originally was hired on as a tutor (not a governess) for only one of the seven von Trapp children, the second-oldest daughter (also named Maria). The young girl had caught scarlet fever and couldn't walk to school anymore, so Maria agreed to work with her temporarily before she became a full-fledged nun.
- Maria didn't really teach the kids to sing--they already knew how. What she did do was nurture them along and care for them.
- Captain Georg Johannes von Trapp was not nearly as reticent about loving and marrying Maria as he is portrayed in the film. In fact, he saw how much she cared about his kids and fell in love with her first.
- Maria did flee back to the Abbey as shown in the film, but it wasn't because she feared she was falling in love with Georg--it was because he had already proposed to her. She did, however, come back and marry him after being advised to do so by her Mother Abbess.
- Georg and Maria married in 1927, not in the late '30s.
- Maria was "really and truly not in love" with Georg on her wedding day. She married him at first because she loved the children so much; however, in her own words, "I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after."
- In 1949, Maria published a book about her experiences called The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. This became the basis for two German films, Die Trapp-Familie and Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika, as well as the 1959 Broadway musical The Sound of Music and the 1965 film of the same name.
The Real "Von Trapp Family Singers"
- All the names, ages, and even genders of the von Trapp children were changed in the film version of the story.
- The von Trapps actually started performing together in 1935--they pretty much had to, since their family finances were all but ruined due to bank failure and a bad Austrian economy. Times got so bad that they had to let go of most of their servants and rent out rooms to university students.
- Their saving grace arrived in the form of Father Franz Wasner, sent by the Archbishop to serve as their chaplain. Wasner soon caught wind of the family's strong musical talent, and ended up directing the von Trapps in all their concerts. (The character of Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music represents Wasner to a degree.)
- Georg von Trapp was indeed uncomfortable with his family performing in public, but it was more out of fear for his family's safety than a dislike for music.
- The von Trapps, calling themselves the "Trapp Family Choir" and later "Trapp Family Singers," performed all around Austria until 1938, when they left Austria to escape the rampant Nazism they couldn't abide any longer. But they didn't escape over the Alps to Switzerland, because the Alps do not border on Switzerland--they border on Germany, the exact opposite direction they would have wanted to go! Actually, the family simply boarded a train for Italy, going on a "family vacation" from which they did not return. Their escape was just as lucky as the film portrayed; the next day, the borders of Austria were sealed.
- The family, now including TEN children (the original seven plus three born after Maria and Georg married), toured the United States, Canada, and many other locales worldwide. They started a fund for Austrian relief after the war, and even ran a music camp in Stowe, Vermont, in the 1940s.
- Georg von Trapp died in 1947 of lung cancer; the Trapp Family Singers continued to perform and even make recordings until 1955, even appearing on one of Elvis Presley's Christmas records. (After disbanding the group, Maria and 3 of the children went to Papua New Guinea to serve as missionaries.)