The last surviving member of the famous Trapp Family Singers made famous in The Sound Of Music died this week at her home in the US. Maria von Trapp was 99.
Her brother, Johannes von Trapp, says that she died on Tuesday in Vermont. He called her a "lovely woman who was one of the few truly good people".
The family won acclaim throughout Europe for their singing and escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938.
Their story was turned into the film and Broadway musical. Maria von Trapp is the second-eldest girl and was portrayed as Louisa in The Sound Of Music.
They moved to Vermont in 1942 after visiting during a singing tour and holidaying in Stowe. The family opened and still operates a lodge there.
Maria von Trapp was the last surviving member of the seven original Trapp Family Singers made famous in The Sound Of Music.
Their story was turned into a Broadway musical in 1959 and a 1965 film, which won the Oscar for best picture.
She was the third child and second-oldest daughter of Austrian Naval Captain Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp.
Their seven children were the basis for the singing family in the musical and film.
The Sound Of Music was based loosely on a 1949 book by Capt von Trapp's second wife, also Maria von Trapp, who died in 1987.
It tells the story of an Austrian woman who married a widower with seven children and teaches them music.
In 1938, the family escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria and performed concert tours throughout Europe and then a three-month tour in America.
Maria von Trapp played accordion and taught Austrian dance with sister Rosmarie at the Vermont ski lodge.
She wrote in a biography posted on the Trapp Family's website that she was born in the Austrian Alps after her family fled fighting from the First World War and that she was surrounded by music growing up.
"Father played the violin, accordion and mandolin. Mother played piano and violin," she wrote. "I have fond memories of our grandmother playing the piano for us after meals."
Her biography on the website also said that she worked as a lay missionary in Papua, New Guinea.
Rosmarie von Trapp, Johannes von Trapp and Eleonore Von Trapp Campbell were born to Georg von Trapp and his second wife.
Johannes von Trapp said of Maria: "There wasn't a mean or miserable bone in her body. I think everyone who knew her would agree with that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article