View source for Maria von Trapp

{{Short description|Matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers (1905–1987)}}
{{About|the matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers|her stepdaughter|Maria Franziska von&nbsp;Trapp}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = Maria von Trapp
| honorific_suffix   = [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|DHS]]
| image              = Maria von Trapp in 1948.jpg
| caption            = Von Trapp in 1948
| birth_name         = Maria Augusta Kuczera
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1905|1|26}}
| birth_place        = [[Vienna]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1987|3|28|1905|1|26}}
| death_place        = [[Morrisville, Vermont]], U.S.
| resting_place      = Trapp Family Cemetery, [[Trapp Family Lodge]], [[Stowe, Vermont]], U.S.
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Georg von Trapp|Georg Ritter von Trapp]]|1927|1947|end=died}}
| children           = 3, including [[Johannes von Trapp]], plus 7 stepchildren
}}

'''Maria Augusta von&nbsp;Trapp''' [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|DHS]] ({{née|'''Kutschera'''}}; 26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987), often styled as "'''Baroness'''",<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kerr |first=Peter |date=29 March 1987 |title=Maria Von Trapp, Whose Life Was 'Sound of Music,' Is Dead |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/29/obituaries/maria-von-trapp-whose-life-was-sound-of-music-is-dead.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=14 July 1997 |title=Tribute to Baron von&nbsp;Trapp Joined by Country He Fled |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/14/us/tribute-to-baron-von-trapp-joined-by-country-he-fled.html |access-date=27 February 2015 |quote=The ceremonies ended today in a morning Mass, at which the cadets stood watch during a performance of Franz Schubert's ''German Mass'', then laid a wreath at the grave of Baron and Baroness von Trapp, who were portrayed by [[Christopher Plummer]] and [[Julie Andrews]] in the 1965 film ''The Sound of Music.''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Gearin |first1=Joan |title=Movie vs. Reality |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html |access-date=27 February 2015 |publisher=The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration – Winter&nbsp;2005, Vol.&nbsp;37, No.&nbsp;4 National Archives |quote=Georg von&nbsp;Trapp, born in 1880, became a national hero as a captain in the Austrian navy during World War&nbsp;I. He commanded submarines with valor and received the title of "Ritter" and subsequently "baron") as a reward for his heroic accomplishments.}}</ref> was the stepmother and matriarch of the [[Trapp Family|Trapp Family Singers]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|title=Maria Augusta Kutschera von Trapp|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/603410/Maria-Augusta-Kutschera-von-Trapp|access-date=9 January 2011}}</ref><ref name=tribute>{{cite news|title=Tribute to Baron von&nbsp;Trapp Joined by Country He Fled|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/14/us/tribute-to-baron-von-trapp-joined-by-country-he-fled.html|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=14 July 1997|access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref> She wrote ''[[The Story of the Trapp Family Singers]]'', which was published in 1949 and was the inspiration for the 1956 West German film ''[[The Trapp Family]]'', which in turn inspired the 1959 Broadway musical ''[[The Sound of Music]]'' and its 1965 [[The Sound of Music (film)|film version]].<ref name=obit/><ref name=mjmvtspwp>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2CMWAAAAIBAJ&pg=2794%2C33446 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |agency=Washington Post|title=Maria von&nbsp;Trapp speaks |last=Bernhard |first=Marianne |date=1 October 1980 |page=6, part&nbsp;1 }}</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life===
Maria was purportedly born on 26 January 1905 to Karl and Augusta (''née'' Rainer) Kuczera.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Taufbuch - 01-197 {{!}} 08., Alservorstadtkrankenhaus {{!}} Wien/Niederösterreich (Osten): Rk. Erzdiözese Wien {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/08-alservorstadtkrankenhaus/01-197/?pg=164 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref><ref>[http://www.mujeresenlahistoria.com/2012/05/la-matriarca-maria-von-trapp-1905-1987.html Maria von&nbsp;Trapp biography] accessed 1 March 2016</ref> She says she was delivered on a train on the night of the 25th, during her mother's return from her homeland of [[Tyrol (state)|Tyrol]] to their family residence in [[Vienna]], Austria.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=obit/> She was baptized into the [[Catholic Church]] on the 29th within the [[Alservorstadt]] parish and maternity hospital.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Taufbuch - 01-197 {{!}} 08., Alservorstadtkrankenhaus {{!}} Wien/Niederösterreich (Osten): Rk. Erzdiözese Wien {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/08-alservorstadtkrankenhaus/01-197/?pg=163 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref>

Her father was a [[Commissionaire|hotel commissionaire]],<ref name=":1" /> born in Vienna,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taufbuch - 01-13 {{!}} 09., Rossau {{!}} Wien/Niederösterreich (Osten): Rk. Erzdiözese Wien {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/09-rossau/01-13/?pg=7 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref> the son of Josef Kučera from a [[Moravians|Moravian]] village, [[Vídeň (Žďár nad Sázavou District)|Vídeň]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trauungsbuch - 02-07 {{!}} 09., Rossau {{!}} Wien/Niederösterreich (Osten): Rk. Erzdiözese Wien {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/09-rossau/02-07/?pg=23 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Matriky - ACTA PUBLICA |url=https://www.mza.cz/actapublica/matrika/detail/7263?image=216000010-000253-003380-000000-016447-000000-00-B02781-01750.jp2 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=www.mza.cz}}</ref> Karl was first married in [[Graz]] to Klara Rainer in 1887.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trauungsbuch XXV 1881-1891 - 648 {{!}} Graz-Hl. Blut {{!}} Steiermark: Rk. Diözese Graz-Seckau {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/graz-seckau/graz-hl-blut/648/?pg=285 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref> The couple had a son Karl in 1888 before Klara's death a few months later.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taufbuch 8 1875-1890 - 1530 {{!}} Graz-Mariae Himmelfahrt {{!}} Steiermark: Rk. Diözese Graz-Seckau {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/graz-seckau/graz-mariae-himmelfahrt/1530/?pg=245 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sterbebuch 6 1884-1938 - 1760 {{!}} Graz-Mariae Himmelfahrt {{!}} Steiermark: Rk. Diözese Graz-Seckau {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/graz-seckau/graz-mariae-himmelfahrt/1760/?pg=33 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref> Maria's father remained a widower until he remarried to Klara's younger sister, Augusta, in 1903.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trauungsbuch - 02-06 {{!}} Maria Enzersdorf am Gebirge {{!}} Wien/Niederösterreich (Osten): Rk. Erzdiözese Wien {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/maria-enzersdorf-am-gebirge/02-06/?pg=95 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref> Augusta died of [[pulmonary tuberculosis]] when Maria was nearly 10 months old.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sterbebuch - 03-22 {{!}} 08., Maria Treu {{!}} Wien/Niederösterreich (Osten): Rk. Erzdiözese Wien {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/08-mariatreu/03-22/?pg=24 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref> Maria's grief-stricken father left her with his cousin (and foster mother) in [[:de:Kagran|Kagran]],<ref name=":3" /> who also cared for Maria's half-brother Karl after his mother Klara had died. Maria's father then traveled the world, although Maria would visit him upon occasion at his apartment in Vienna. He changed the spelling of their surname to ''Kutschera'' in 1914,<ref name=":2" /> dying at home later that year.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Maria: My Own Story |url=https://dokumen.pub/maria-my-own-story.html |access-date=9 January 2024 |website=dokumen.pub |language=en}}</ref> Her foster mother's son-in-law, Uncle Franz, then became her guardian.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mariavontrappbey00rans|title=Maria von Trapp: Beyond the Sound of Music|last=Ransom |first=Candice F. |date=2002|publisher=Carolrhoda Books|isbn=1-57505-444-2|location=Minneapolis|oclc=45064758|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Uncle Franz maltreated Maria and punished her for things she did not do; he was later found to be mentally ill. This changed Maria from a shy child into the teenage "class cut-up", figuring she may as well have fun if she was going to get in trouble either way. Despite this change, Maria continued to get good grades.<ref name=":0" />

After graduating from high school at 15, Maria ran away to stay with a friend, with the intent to become a tutor for children staying at nearby hotels. Because she looked so young, no one took her seriously. Finally, a hotel manager asked her to be umpire for a tennis tournament. Although she did not know what an umpire was and had never played tennis, she took the job.

From this job, she saved enough money to enter the State Teachers College for Progressive Education in Vienna, where she also received a scholarship.<ref name=":0" /> She graduated from there at age 18 in 1923.

In 1924, she entered [[Nonnberg Abbey]], a [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] monastery in [[Salzburg]], as a [[postulant]], intending to become a nun.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mead|first=Wendy|title=Maria von Trapp|url=https://www.biography.com/musician/maria-von-trapp|access-date=1 January 2022|website=Biography|date=16 July 2020 |language=en-us}}</ref>

===Marriage===
[[File:SMU-5 Trapp.jpg|thumb|[[Georg von Trapp]] on the bridge of submarine [[SM U-5 (Austria-Hungary)|''U-5'']] of the [[Austro-Hungarian Navy]] (1915)]]

While still teaching at the Abbey in 1926, Maria was asked to teach [[Maria Franziska von Trapp]], one of seven children born to widowed naval commander [[Georg von Trapp]].<ref name="mjmvtspwp" /><ref name="chrono">{{cite news|author=Trapp Family Lodge|author-link=Trapp Family Lodge|url=http://www.trappfamily.com/agathevontrapp |title=The von&nbsp;Trapp Chronology |access-date=20 September 2014 |quote=Maria was chosen by the Mother Abbess to help the Baron Georg von Trapp with his seven children and tutor young Maria who had contracted scarlet fever. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830182358/http://www.trappfamily.com/agathevontrapp |archive-date=30 August 2011 }}</ref> His first wife, the Anglo-Austrian heiress [[Agathe Whitehead]], had earlier died in 1922 from [[scarlet fever]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Trapp Family Lodge|author-link=Trapp Family Lodge|url=http://www.trappfamily.com/agathevontrapp |title=Agathe von&nbsp;Trapp 1913&ndash;2010 |access-date=20 September 2014 |quote=When Agathe was 10, her mother died of scarlet fever. ... |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830182358/http://www.trappfamily.com/agathevontrapp |archive-date=30 August 2011 }}</ref> Eventually, Maria began to look after the other children: [[Rupert von Trapp|Rupert]], [[Agathe von Trapp|Agathe]], [[Werner von Trapp|Werner]], [[Hedwig von Trapp|Hedwig]], [[Johanna von Trapp|Johanna]], and [[Martina von Trapp|Martina]].

Captain von Trapp saw how much she cared about his children and asked her to marry him, although he was 25 years her senior. Frightened, she fled back to Nonnberg Abbey to seek guidance from the [[Abbess|mother abbess]], [[Virgilia Lütz]], who advised her it was God's will that she should marry him. She then returned to the family and accepted his proposal. She wrote in her autobiography that she was very angry on her wedding day, both at God and at her new husband, because she really wanted to be a nun. "I really and truly was not in love. I liked him but didn't love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after."<ref name=singers/> They married at [[Nonnberg Abbey]] on 26 November 1927 and had three children together: Rosmarie (1929–2022), Eleonore ("Lorli") (1931–2021) and [[Johannes von Trapp|Johannes]] (born 1939).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trauungsbuch - TRBXV {{!}} Salzburg-Dompfarre {{!}} Salzburg: Rk. Erzdiözese Salzburg {{!}} Österreich {{!}} Matricula Online |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/salzburg/salzburg-dompfarre/TRBXV/?pg=284 |access-date=9 January 2024 |website=data.matricula-online.eu}}</ref>

=== Medical problems ===
The von Trapps enjoyed hiking. On one outing, they stayed overnight at a farmer's house. The next morning, they were informed that Maria and two of Georg's daughters, Johanna and Martina, had [[scarlet fever]]. Johanna and Martina recovered, but the older Maria developed [[Kidney stone disease|kidney stones]] due to [[dehydration]]. Her stepdaughter, Maria Franziska, accompanied her to Vienna for a successful surgery, but Maria experienced lifelong kidney problems.<ref name="singers" />

=== Financial problems ===
The family met with financial ruin in 1935. Georg had transferred his savings from a bank in [[London]] to an Austrian bank run by a friend named Auguste Caroline Lammer. Austria was experiencing economic difficulties during a [[The Great Depression|worldwide depression]] because of the [[Crash of 1929]], and Lammer's bank failed.<ref name=nara2>{{cite news|first=Joan|last=Gearin|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html|title=The Real Story of the von Trapp Family|access-date=5 January 2009|quote=Maria Kutschera and Georg von Trapp married in 1927. They had three children together.|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration}}</ref> To survive, the Trapps dismissed most of their servants, moved into the top floor of their house, and rented out the other rooms. The [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg|Archbishop of Salzburg]], Sigismund Waitz, sent Father [[Franz Wasner]] to stay with them as their [[chaplain]] and this began their singing career.<ref name=singers/>

=== Early musical career and departure from Austria ===
Soprano [[Lotte Lehmann]] heard the family sing, and she suggested they perform at concerts. When the [[Chancellor of Austria|Austrian Chancellor]] [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] heard them over the radio, he invited them to perform in Vienna.<ref name=choir>{{cite news|title=Family Choir|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772134,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415083822/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772134,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 April 2009|quote=When Soprano Lotte Lehmann heard them, she suggested concerts. When Austrian Chancellor Kurt von&nbsp;Schuschnigg heard them over the radio, he invited them to sing in Vienna. Soon the von&nbsp;Trapps were touring the whole map of Europe.|work=[[Time magazine]]|date= 19 December 1938|access-date=7 January 2011}}</ref>

After performing at a festival in 1935, they became a popular touring act. They experienced life under the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] after the [[Anschluss]] (the annexation of Austria by Germany) in March 1938. Life became increasingly difficult as they witnessed hostility toward Jewish children by their classmates, the use of children against their parents, and finally by the extension of an offer for [[Georg von Trapp|Georg]] to join the [[Kriegsmarine|German Navy]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Sound of admiration |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/647000106 |access-date=28 November 2023 |work=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=14 July 1997 |page=A6 |language=en |quote=After Hitler invaded Austria, von Trapp was offered a position in the German navy. He refused...}}</ref> Maria's doctor also encouraged her to [[abortion|abort]] a fetus considered unviable due to her physical condition, the child later being born and named [[Johannes von Trapp]]. They visited [[Munich]] in the summer of 1938 and encountered [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] at a restaurant, Maria later recounting that "For … forty minutes we had a first-class opportunity to look at the Messiah of the Third Reich … One couldn't stand it too long, however. Knowing who he was, it was too depressing." In September, the family fled Austria for [[Italy]] via train, then to [[England]] and finally the [[United States]]. The Nazis made use of their abandoned home as [[Heinrich Himmler]]'s headquarters.<ref name=singers>{{cite book|last=Trapp|first=Maria Augusta|title=The Story of the Trapp Family Singers|year=1953|publisher=Doubleday |quote=After Armistice day when the boys [Maria's sons] were still in Europe, they had gone for a short visit to Salzburg and found that our old home there had been confiscated by Heinrich Himmler; that it had been made his headquarters for the last period of that cruel war; that the chapel had been turned into a beer parlour; and what had been Father Wasner's room had become Hitler's quarters when he came there.|isbn=978-0-385-02896-7}}</ref>

Initially calling themselves the "Trapp Family Choir", the von Trapps began to perform in the United States and [[Canada]]. They performed in [[New York City]] at [[The Town Hall (New York City)|The Town Hall]] on 10 December 1938.<ref name=obit/><ref name=choir/><ref>The "seven young singing von&nbsp;Trapps" ranged in age from 16 to 27 and were not young children.</ref><ref name=flute/> The ''[[New York Times]]'' wrote:

<blockquote>There was something unusually lovable and appealing about the modest, serious singers of this little family aggregation as they formed a close semicircle about their self-effacing director for their initial offering, the handsome Mme. von&nbsp;Trapp in simple black, and the youthful sisters garbed in black and white Austrian folk costumes enlivened with red ribbons. It was only natural to expect work of exceeding refinement from them, and one was not disappointed in this.<ref name=obit/><ref name=flute>{{cite news|title=Group Heard in Choral Works of Five Centuries in Its First Appearance Here|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/12/11/archives/concert-is-given-by-trapp-family-group-heard-in-choral-works-of.html|quote=An intriguing array of choral selections, culled from the music of the last five centuries, and representative works for the early vertical flutes known as recorders, was presented by the Trapp Family Choir at their first New York concert given yesterday afternoon at Town Hall.|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=11 December 1938|access-date=5 January 2009}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Trapp Family Singers 1941.JPG|thumb|Trapp Family Singers preparing for a concert in Boston in 1941. Maria is the third from left, in a dark suit.]]
Charles Wagner was their first booking agent, then they signed on with [[Frederick Christian Schang]]. Thinking the name "Trapp Family Choir" too churchy, Schang Americanized their repertoire and, following his suggestion, the group changed its name to the "Trapp Family Singers".<ref name=singers/> The family, which by then included all ten children, was soon touring the world giving concert performances.<ref name=obit/> [[Alix Williamson]] served as the group's publicist for over two decades. After the war, they founded the [[Trapp Family Austrian Relief]] fund, which sent food and clothing to the impoverished in Austria.

===Move to the United States===
[[File:US certificate of arrival for Maria von Trapp.jpg|thumb|Maria von Trapp's certificate of arrival at [[Niagara Falls, New York]], on 30 December 1942]]

In the 1940s, the family moved to [[Stowe, Vermont]], where they ran a [[music camp]] when they were not touring. In 1944, Maria Augusta, Maria Franziska, Johanna, Martina, Hedwig and Agathe applied for U.S. citizenship, whereas Georg never applied to become a citizen. Rupert and Werner became citizens by serving during World War II, while Rosmarie and Eleonore became citizens by virtue of their mother's citizenship. Johannes was born in the United States in [[Philadelphia]] on 17 January 1939 during a concert tour.<ref name=nara2/> Georg von Trapp died in 1947 in Vermont after suffering lung cancer.

The family made a series of 78-rpm records for [[RCA Victor]] in the 1950s, some of which were later issued on [[RCA Camden]] LPs. There were also a few later recordings released on LPs, including some stereo sessions. In 1957, the Trapp Family Singers disbanded and went their separate ways. Maria and three of her children became missionaries in [[Papua New Guinea]]. In 1965, Maria moved back to Vermont to manage the [[Trapp Family Lodge]], which had been named ''Cor Unum''. She began turning over management of the lodge to her son Johannes, although she was initially reluctant to do so.<ref>{{cite book|first=Maria Augusta|last=Trapp|title=Maria: Maria von&nbsp;Trapp, My Own Story|year=1972|publisher=Coverdale House |quote=Like many other parents who have been leaders for a very long time, I simply didn't know how to step down without bitterness and reproaches.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m36hAgAACAAJ|isbn=0-902088-43-2}}</ref> Hedwig returned to Austria and worked as a teacher in [[Umhausen]].

==Death==
Maria von Trapp died of heart failure on 28 March 1987, aged 82, in [[Morrisville, Vermont]], three days following surgery.<ref name=obit-Times>{{cite news|author=Peter Kerr|title=Maria von&nbsp;Trapp, Whose Life was 'Sound of Music', is Dead|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEED91738F93AA15750C0A961948260|newspaper=New York Times|date=29 March 1987|access-date=21 July 2007}}</ref> She is interred in the family cemetery at the lodge, along with her husband and five of her step-children.

<gallery>
File:Trapp Family Cemetery.jpg|The family cemetery in 2022. Maria's grave is on the left
</gallery>

==Decorations and awards==
The family has won the following awards:<ref name=chrono/>
* 1949 &ndash; [[Benemerenti Medal]] ([[Pope Pius XII]]), in recognition of the benefits of the [[Trapp Family Austrian Relief]] for needy Austrians
* 1952 &ndash; Dame of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Order of the Holy Sepulchre]] (Vatican-Pope Pius&nbsp;XII)
* 1956 &ndash; Catholic Mother of the Year in the United States. Women receive this honorary title, to recognise exemplary behavior{{clarify|date=September 2014}}
* 1957 &ndash; [[Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria]]
* 1962 &ndash; Siena Medal – an award given by [[Theta Phi Alpha]] women's fraternity to "an outstanding woman to recognize her for her endurance and great accomplishment." The medal is the highest honor the organization bestows upon a non-member and is named after Saint Catherine of Siena.
* 1967 &ndash; [[Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class]]
* 2007 &ndash; The von Trapp Family received the Egon Ranshofen Wertheimer Prize in [[Braunau am Inn]] 
* 2012 &ndash; Naming of Maria Trapp-Platz in [[Donaustadt]] (22nd&nbsp;District of Vienna)

==Children==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name || Birth || Death || Notes
|-
| [[Rosmarie Trapp|Rosmarie von Trapp]]||  8&nbsp;February 1929<ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/salzburg/salzburg-aigen/TFB10/?pg=315 |title=Rosa Trapp 8.II. 1929  |access-date=12 January 2018 }}</ref> || 13&nbsp;May 2022 (aged 93)|| Rosmarie worked as a singer and missionary in [[Papua New Guinea]]. She most recently lived in [[Pittsburgh]].<ref name=obit>{{Cite news|title=Maria von Trapp, whose life was 'Sound of Music', is Dead|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEED91738F93AA15750C0A961948260|quote=[[Maria Augusta von Trapp]], the guiding force behind a family of singers who won world renown when their story was portrayed in the play and film ''The Sound of Music,'' died of heart failure yesterday in [[Morrisville, Vermont]], three days after undergoing surgery. She was 82 years old and had lived in [[Stowe, Vermont]], for more than 40 years. ... She is survived by a son, Johannes, of Stowe; two daughters, Eleonore Campbell of [[Waitsfield, Vermont]], and Rosmarie Trapp of [[Pittsburgh]]; two stepsons, Rupert, of Stowe and Werner, of Waitsfield; three stepdaughters, Agathe von Trapp of [[Glyndon, Maryland]], Maria Franziska von Trapp of [[Papua New Guinea]], and Johanna von Trapp of [[San Diego, California]], and by 29 grandchildren.|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=29 March 1987|access-date=21 July 2007|first=Peter|last=Kerr}}</ref>
|-
| Eleonore von&nbsp;Trapp || 14&nbsp;May 1931<ref name=nara1>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/publications/prologue/2005/winter/images/petition-p1-l.jpg&c=/publications/prologue/2005/winter/images/petition-p1.caption.html |title= Petition for Naturalization for Maria von&nbsp;Trapp |access-date= 5 January 2009 |date=26 May 1948 |agency= National Archives and Records Administration|publisher=[[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] via [[NARA]]}}</ref> || 17 October 2021<br/>(aged 90)<ref>[https://keyt.com/news/national-world/ap-national-news/2021/10/21/lorli-von-trapp-campbell-of-sound-of-music-family-dies/ Lorli von Trapp Campbell, of 'Sound of Music' family, dies]</ref> || Married Hugh David Campbell in 1954 and had seven daughters with him. Lived with her family in [[Waitsfield, Vermont]].<ref name=tribute/>
|-
| [[Johannes von Trapp]] || {{birth date and age|1939|1|17|df=yes}}<ref name=nara1/>{{failed verification|reason=A 1948 source cannot verify current age.|date=November 2024}} || || Married Lynne Peterson in 1969 and had one son and one daughter with her.<ref name=tribute/> He became manager of the family lodge in the 1970s.<ref name=Johannes>{{cite news |first= Stephanie|last= Clifford|title=Von&nbsp;Trapps Reunited, Without the Singing|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/25vontrapp.html?_r=1&em|quote=Still, Johannes von&nbsp;Trapp, the 10th and youngest child, remembers growing up relatively anonymously in a quiet, strict home. ... By 1969, he had graduated from Dartmouth, completed a master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry and was planning on an academic career in natural resources. He returned to Stowe to put the inn's finances in order, and ended up running the place. He tried to leave, moving to a ranch in British Columbia in 1977 and staying a few years, then moving to a ranch in Montana. But the professional management in Stowe kept quitting. "Now I'm stuck here", he said.|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 December 2008|access-date=26 December 2008}}</ref>
|}

==Adaptations of the autobiography==
{{Main|The Sound of Music}}
Maria von&nbsp;Trapp's book, ''[[The Story of the Trapp Family Singers]]'', published in 1949, was a best-seller. It was made into two successful German / Austrian films:
* ''[[The Trapp Family]]'' (1956)
* ''[[The Trapp Family in America]]'' (1958)

The book was then adapted into ''[[The Sound of Music]]'', a 1959 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical by [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]], starring [[Mary Martin]] and [[Theodore Bikel]]. It was a success, running for more than three years. The musical was adapted in 1965 as a motion picture [[The Sound of Music (film)|of the same name]], starring [[Julie Andrews]]. The film version set US box office records, and Maria von&nbsp;Trapp received about $500,000 (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|500000|1958|r=2}}}} today) in royalties.<ref name=obit/>

Maria von&nbsp;Trapp made a [[cameo appearance]] in the movie version of ''The Sound of Music'' (1965). For an instant, she, her daughter Rosmarie, and Werner's daughter Barbara can be seen walking past an archway during the song, "I Have Confidence", at the line, "I must stop these doubts, all these worries / If I don't, I just know I'll turn back."<ref>{{cite book| title=The World of the Trapp Family|first=William|last=Anderson|year=1998|publisher=Anderson Publications|isbn=1-890757-00-4}}</ref>

Maria von&nbsp;Trapp sang "[[Edelweiss (song)|Edelweiss]]" with Andrews on ''[[The Julie Andrews Hour]]'' in 1973. In 1991, a 40&nbsp;episode [[anime]] series, titled ''[[Trapp Family Story]]'' aired in Japan, her character referred to by her maiden name (Maria Kutschera), voiced by [[Masako Katsuki]]. She was portrayed in the 2015&nbsp;film ''[[The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music]]'' by [[Yvonne Catterfeld]].

==Authored books==
*{{cite book |date=1952 |title=Yesterday, today, and forever |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Lippincott |oclc=1423861 }}
*{{cite book |date=1954 |title=The story of the Trapp Family Singers |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Lippincott |oclc=226201826}}
*{{cite book |date=1955 |title=Around the year with the Trapp family |location=New York, N.Y. |publisher=Pantheon |oclc=573806}}
*{{cite book |date=1960 |title=The Trapp family on wheels |location=London |publisher=G. Bles |oclc=8153355}}
*{{cite book |date=1972 |title=Maria |location=Carol Stream, Ill. |publisher=Creation House |oclc=615981}}
*{{cite book |date=1976 |title=When the King was Carpenter |location=Harrison, Arkansas |publisher=New Leaf Press |oclc=2800726}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009mk18 Maria von&nbsp;Trapp] interview on BBC Radio&nbsp;4 ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', 29&nbsp;December 1983

{{The Story of the Trapp Family Singers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trapp, Maria von}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century Austrian women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Austrian anti-fascists]]
[[Category:Austrian autobiographers]]
[[Category:Austrian baronesses]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Austrian governesses]]
[[Category:Austrian Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss]]
[[Category:Musicians from Vermont]]
[[Category:Musicians from Vienna]]
[[Category:People from Stowe, Vermont]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Benemerenti medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria]]
[[Category:Trapp family|Maria]]
[[Category:Women autobiographers]]