Hedwig von Trapp

Infobox Person
name = Hedwig Maria Adolphine Gobertina von Trapp


caption = Petition for Naturalization, 1948
image_size = 200px
birth_date = birth date|1917|7|28|mf=y
birth_place = flagicon|Austria Zell am See,Austria
death_date = flagicon|Austria Death date and age|1972|9|14|1917|7|28
death_place = Zell am See, Austria
nationality = Austrian
occupation = singer
Hedwig von Trapp (Hedwig Maria Adolphine Gobertina von Trapp) was born on July 28 1917 in Zell am See (Austria) as the fifth child from Georg Ludwig von Trapp and his first wife Agathe Whitehead (1890-1922). Hedwig was named after her paternal grandmother.

Early life

Hedwig had brown hair and grey eyes. She grew up in Zell am See during WW I with her silblings: Rupert von Trapp (1911-1992) Agathe von Trapp (1913), Maria Franziska von Trapp (1914), Werner von Trapp and Johanna von Trapp (1919-1994). The last sister Martina von Trapp (1921-1951) was born in Klosterneuburg (Austria). The Trapp Family moved from Zell-am-See to Klosterneuburg, because there home called a lake hotel called "Kitzsteinhorn" were flooded. Bevore living in the hotel, the Trapp Family lived on a farm called "Erlhof" near Agathe Whitehad von Trapps mothers and her sisters.

1922 Hedwig's mother died of scarlet fever and was buried in Klosterneuburg. Hedwig was five years old.

1925 moved the Trapp Family to Salzburg-Aigen. Hedwig entered the Ursuline convent, together with her sisters.

1927 her father, Georg Ludwig von Trapp, remarried Maria Augusta Kutschera (1905-1987), the teacher from Hedwigs sisters Maria Franziska and Johanna. Georg and Maria Augusta had three children together: Rosemarie (1929), Eleonore (1931) and Johannes (1939).

Career

The Trapp Family left Austria in summer of 1938 and went to America. Hedwig was now in her early twenties. She sang alto in the family chorus and the "Echo Yodels", behind the big wing to got the "echo" effect.

After the Trapp Family Singers disbanded she started her teaching career in Honolulu, directing a children's choir, teaching handicrafts, carpentry, and cooking.

Hedwig visited her aunt in Zell am See in 1972 and died there at the age of 55 on asthma (an illness). She was buried at the Lodge in Vermont, next to her father, her stepmother and her siblings: Rupert, Werner and Martina.

Trivia

Hedwig was portrayed as the character "Brigitta" in The Sound of Music .

Hedwig became a naturalized United States citizen in 1948.

Books

Maria Augusta von Trapp: „Vom Kloster zum Welterfolg“ (German)

Ebenda, „Von Welterfolg zu Welterfolg“ (German)

Ebenda, „Gestern, heute, immerdar“ (German)

External links

* http://www.trappfamily.com (The Homepage from the Trapp Family)
* http://www.geocities.com/vlsmarble/rtrivia.html (Differences the real Trapp Family contra the informations in „The Sound of Music)
* http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html (Some Informations about the Trapp Family)
* http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/exhibits/von-trapp.html (Other Informations about Hedwig)
* http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=von+trapp&GSfn=hedwig&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=8212768& (Hedwigs birthday and deathday)