Maria Augusta Kutschera
| Maria von Trapp | |
|---|---|
Photo from Declaration of Intention,
21 January 1944 |
|
| Born |
Maria Augusta Kutschera 26 January 1905 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 28 March 1987 (aged 82) Morrisville, Vermont, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) |
Georg von Trapp (m. 1927–47; his death) |
| Children | Rosmarie von Trapp Eleonore von Trapp Johannes von Trapp |
Maria Augusta von Trapp (née Kutschera; 26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987), also known as Baroness von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She wrote The Story of the Trapp Family Singers which was published in 1949. The story served as the inspiration for the 1956 West German film The Trapp Family, which in turn inspired the Broadway musical The Sound of Music (1959) and the 1965 film of the same name.
Maria was born on 26 January 1905, the daughter of Augusta (née Rainer) and Karl Kutschera. She was delivered on a train heading from her parents' village in Tyrol to a hospital in Vienna, Austria. She was an orphan by her seventh birthday. She graduated from the State Teachers College for Progressive Education in Vienna at age 18, in 1923. In 1924 she entered Nonnberg Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Salzburg, as a postulant, intending to become a nun.
In 1926, while still a schoolteacher at the abbey, Maria was asked to teach one of the seven children of widowed naval commander Georg von Trapp. His wife, Agatha Whitehead, had died in 1922 from scarlet fever. Eventually, Maria began to look after the other children as well (Rupert, Agathe, Maria Franziska, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna, and Martina.)
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