Agathe von trapp biography of george washington

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During the early 1940s, they toured the United States as the Trapp Family Singers, eventually settling in Stowe, Vermont.

  • 1944. Georg’s second eldest daughter, Maria, had contracted scarlet fever—the same disease that took his first wife’s life four years prior—and could no longer travel the distance to and from school.

    Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29.

  • “Georg von Trapp.” Military Wiki. From youth, she pursued drawing and painting, receiving private watercolor instruction funded by her father, and later enrolled in art courses at the Universities of Miami and Vermont.[4] Her subjects included wildflowers, animals, and landscapes, with sketches often produced during travel; she also crafted linoleum-stenciled block-print cards for commercial sale, particularly as Christmas greetings.[4] Von Trapp's artwork was exhibited and sold commercially on multiple occasions, reflecting a sustained personal avocation rather than a primary profession.[4]Educationally, von Trapp transitioned to teaching young children, co-founding a private kindergarten in Stowe, Vermont, circa 1956 alongside Mary Louise Kane, a former lodge employee.[22] The venture operated until 1958, when Stowe established its public kindergarten, prompting her move to the Baltimore vicinity.[22] There, she instructed kindergarten at Sacred Heart Catholic parish in Glyndon, Maryland, for about 35 years, retiring in the 1990s after a career dedicated to early childhood education.[23][22]

    Family and Private Life

    Agathe von Trapp never married and had no children.[22] She maintained close ties with her siblings and extended family throughout her life, residing in Vermont near the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, where she contributed to family endeavors informally while pursuing her independent artistic career.[7] Described by her brother Johannes von Trapp as a private person, Agathe focused her personal life on sketching, painting, and teaching kindergarten, eschewing public attention beyond her family's musical legacy.[7] Upon her death on December 28, 2010, she was buried in the family cemetery at the lodge, underscoring her enduring familial bonds.[7]

    Death and Legacy

    Final Years

    In retirement after 1993, Agathe von Trapp resided in a condominium in Brooklandville, Maryland, with her longtime companion Mary Louise Kane, with whom she had lived for five decades.[24][25] She continued artistic pursuits, including painting watercolors, and offered lessons in music, German, and art.

  • "The Von Trapp Family: Harmony and Discord." Biography. She attended teachers’ college where she discovered religion and converted to Catholicism before becoming a candidate for the novitiate in Salzburg. In November 2010, von Trapp suffered congestive heart failure, leading to her admission to Gilchrist Hospice in Towson, Maryland, where she died on December 28, 2010, at the age of 97.[23][24][7]

    Memoir and Critique of The Sound of Music Portrayal

    Agathe von Trapp published her autobiography, Memories Before and After the Sound of Music, in 2003, providing a firsthand account of the von Trapp family's life before, during, and after their rise to fame as singers and the subsequent adaptations of their story into stage and film.[5] The memoir draws on her personal recollections, family sketches, and photographs to depict a devout Catholic household marked by musical talent, disciplined yet affectionate parenting, and challenges under the Anschluss, contrasting sharply with the dramatized narrative of The Sound of Music.[27] As the eldest daughter, Agathe emphasized the centrality of faith and familial bonds, portraying her father, Georg von Trapp, as a gentle and devoted parent rather than the authoritarian figure depicted in the film.[10]While Agathe expressed admiration for the 1959 Broadway musical and 1965 film adaptation—inspired loosely by Maria von Trapp's 1949 book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers—she critiqued their fictional liberties, particularly the misrepresentation of family dynamics and escape from Austria.[10] In a 2003 interview, she stated that her father "was far from a stern taskmaster" and instead "a very softhearted person," countering the film's portrayal of him as emotionally distant and rigid with children marching like cadets.[10] The memoir highlights that the family's repertoire included substantial classical works by composers such as Mozart and Bach, not merely the folk songs and lighthearted tunes emphasized in the production, which irritated surviving family members for oversimplifying their serious musical pursuits.[11]Agathe's account also corrects the cinematic depiction of their 1938 departure from Austria, noting that the family traveled by train to Italy with valid passports rather than hiking dramatically over the Alps as shown in the film, a route that would have been implausible given the terrain and their circumstances.[11] She viewed Maria's arrival and influence positively but honestly assessed her stepmother's role without idealization, underscoring Maria's practical contributions to the family's musical and spiritual life amid real hardships like financial strain post-emigration.[28] Overall, the memoir serves as a corrective to the Hollywood narrative, prioritizing empirical family history over entertainment while acknowledging the productions' cultural impact, though the von Trapps derived minimal financial benefit due to Maria's earlier rights sale.[11]

    Works

    Discography

    Agathe von Trapp contributed vocals as first soprano and played recorder on recordings by the Trapp Family Singers from their formation in 1940 until the mid-1950s.[3] The group's early sessions with RCA Victor, conducted shortly after their arrival in the United States in 1940, captured performances of Austrian folk songs, madrigals, sacred music, and chamber works, with Agathe participating as a core member.[29] These original 78 rpm records formed the basis for later LP compilations and remastered CDs featuring her contributions.Key releases including her performances encompass At Home with the Trapp Family Singers, which credits Agathe among the vocalists alongside family members like Maria, Eleonore, Hedwig, and Werner von Trapp.[30] Compilations such as One Voice: Inspired by Original Trapp Family Singers Recordings Remastered (2007) and The Original Trapp Family Singers (1990) remaster these early tracks, preserving the ensemble's repertoire of over 70 pieces across genres.[31][32] No solo discography exists for Agathe von Trapp, whose musical output remained tied to the family ensemble until she shifted focus to visual arts and education.[3]

    Publications

    Agathe von Trapp's sole published work as an author is her autobiography Memories Before and After the Sound of Music, which offers a detailed personal recounting of her family's history, including their Austrian upbringing, the influence of her father Georg von Trapp, the integration of stepmother Maria, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938, and subsequent life in the United States.[33] First released on January 1, 2003, by Providence House Publishers, the 224-page volume includes von Trapp's original sketches and family photographs to illustrate key events and daily life.[33][34] A revised edition appeared in 2010 from HarperCollins, maintaining the core narrative while reaching a broader audience through expanded distribution.[5] The book emphasizes factual divergences from the 1959 Broadway musical and 1965 film adaptations, drawing on von Trapp's direct recollections as the eldest child without reliance on secondary interpretations.[27] No other books, articles, or standalone publications by von Trapp have been documented in available records.[35]

    • Georg Johannes Ritter (Von Trapp) von Trapp (1880 - 1947)

    Biography

    Georg (Von Trapp) von Trapp is Notable.

    George von Trapp was notable for several reasons, primarily as the patriarch of the talented von Trapp Family, who were the inspiration for the 1965 American musical drama film, The Sound of Music.

    Georg Johannes Ritter von Trapp was born on 4 April 1880 in Zara, Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary.

    The movie received five Academy Awards—including Best Picture—and is the third highest-grossing film of all time when adjusting for inflation in the United States.

    Watch The Sound of Music on Disney+ or get tickets to the 60th anniversary theatrical release

    Like many true stories filtered through Hollywood’s often overly sentimental lens, The Sound of Music on-screen differs significantly from the true tale of Maria Kutschera, the novice nun who takes a job as a governess in the Austrian household of the von Trapps, only to find herself falling in love with widower and retired naval captain Georg von Trapp and his seven children.

    https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Georg_von_Trapp.

    Portrayed on film by Julie Andrews as demure and self-effacing, the real Maria was, in fact, a real problem while at the convent, describing herself as “horrid, the worst you can imagine,” in a 1980 article that includes a list of transgressions such as breaking china, speaking during periods of silence, running in the courtyard, whistling Gregorian chants, and climbing on the convent roof.

    Georg died in Stowe on 30 May 1947, aged 67. Fandom, Inc., 2015. A story of the von Trapp children and their step-mother is told in the largely fictional musical movie The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein.[3]

    Sources

    1. ↑ Georg & Agathe Foundation (https://www.georgandagathe.org/history--georg---agathe.html (Georg & Agathe Foundation: Family Tree: Trapp - Hoffman - Thilenius - Metzler: accessed 21 Dec 2020).
    2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 10 November 2020), memorial page for Agathe Whitehead von Trapp (14 Jun 1891–3 Sep 1922), Find a Grave Memorial no.

      On film, Wasner became the fictional Max Detweiler, who remained in Austria. George von Trapp Declaration of Intention Retained by the United States District Court of Vermont

      3. See also:

      • Wikipedia entry: Georg von Trapp
      • Wikipedia Commons: Georg von Trapp
      • Wikidata: Item Q89518, en:Wikipedia
      • "'The Sound of Music", words and lyrics and music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, 1959.

        Although they left Austria only a day before the borders were sealed, their actual departure lacked the drama contained in the movie according to documents and interviews contained in the U.S. National Archives. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 3580.

        agathe von trapp biography of george washington

        “And we did not climb over mountains with all our heavy suitcases and instruments.