Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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TRAPP, Baroness Maria von

(b Maria Augusta Kutschera, 26 Jan. '05; Vienna; d 28 March '87, USA) Author of The Story of the Trapp Family Singers '48. An orphan, she left a convent to serve as governess in the household of widowed anti-Nazi Baron Georg von Trapp (d '47); they married, had three children (making 10 altogether), fled Nazis '38 to USA, settled in Vermont, made a living giving concerts. She sold rights to her book to a German company for $1500; Rodgers & Hammerstein made hit musical The Sound Of Music of it; '65 film version is one of the top-grossing films of all time: she received not a penny from either.