Maria F. von Trapp

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = Maria Agatha Franziska Gobertina von Trapp
caption = Petition for Naturalization, 1948
birth_date = birth date and age|1914|8|28
birth_place = flagicon|Austria Zell am See, Salzburg, Austria
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Singer and missionary

Maria Franziska von Trapp (born August 28, 1914) is the second-oldest daughter of Baron Georg von Trapp and Agathe Whitehead von Trapp.

Along with her six siblings, father, and stepmother, Maria Augusta von Trapp, Maria Franziska von Trapp comprised the world-renowned Trapp Family Singers, who inspired the 1959 Broadway musical and the 1965 Academy Award-winning Best Picture "The Sound of Music". Maria Franziska sang second soprano in the choir, together with her sister Martina von Trapp.

The von Trapps fled Austria after the German annexation of Austria, fearing reprisals resulting from declining to sing at Hitler's birthday party and Georg von Trapp's refusal to accept a commission in the German Navy. They came to the United States in 1938, settled in Vermont in 1942, and performed throughout the country. After Baron von Trapp died in 1947 and the family eventually ceased performing, Maria Franziska von Trapp became a lay missionary in Papua, New Guinea. She now lives on her family's lodge in Stowe, Vermont. [ [http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2006/10/maria_von_trapp.html Australian School of Pacific Administration] Blog entry mentioning her return to the family lodge]

Of the seven original von Trapp children, only two survive: Agathe, born in 1913 and Maria Franziska. Rosemarie, born in 1929, Eleonore, born in 1931 and Johannes, born in 1939, are also alive, but they are half siblings and not part of the seven original Trapp Family Singers siblings featured in "The Sound of Music". Maria Franziska von Trapp is portrayed as the character Louisa.

Maria Franziska von Trapp became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1948.

From July 22 to July 27, 2008, Maria Franziska Trapp visited her childhood home in Salzburg/Aigen and her birthplace in Zell-am-See. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/theater/29arts-SOUNDOFMUSIC_BRF.html ‘Sound of Music’ Villa Opens for Business. "New York Times"] , 29 July 2008.] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2460543/Maria-von-Trapp-returns-to-home-that-inspired-The-Sound-of-Music.html Maria Franziska von Trapp returns to home that inspired The Sound of Music. "Telegraph"] , 26 July 2008.] [ [http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=21696 Maria Franziska von Trapp returns to "Sound of Music" home. "Daily Mirror"] , 29 July 2008.] Accompanying her were her half-brother Johannes and her sister-in-law Erika (Werner's widow). During their visit, the group met with Ernst Florian Winter, the husband of her sister Johanna von Trapp (1919-1994).

References

Kronenzeitung (Austrian Newspaper) form July 23 2008

External links

* [http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1216917775102 Maria Franziska von Trapp besucht Salzburg (derStandard.at)]
* [http://www.kurier.at/freizeitundgesundheit/181794.php Maria von Trapp in Salzburg (kurier.at)]
* [http://www.salzburg.com/nwas/index.php?article=DText/iu$8n8*yechdb8nroj-vagh&
]

External links

* [http://www.trappfamily.com/familystory/history.php?tid=156 Living in Stowe, Vermont]
* [http://www.plymouth.edu/theatre_coll/som/trapps.htm Rosemarie, Eleonore, and Johannes were not part of the seven original Trapp Family Singers siblings featured in "The Sound of Music"]
* [http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html Rosemarie, Eleonore, and Johannes are half-siblings]
* [http://www.trappfamily.com/familystory/history.php?tid=156 Listing from Trapp Family Lodge]
* [http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/exhibits/von-trapp.html The von Trapp Family in Federal Records]