The movie includes a wonderful scene in which Maria shows the children how to deal with problems through singing. In real life, the von Trapp siblings were already accomplished singers and musicians. But Maria does get the credit for convincing the family to share their talent with the world. In an interview with the Washington Post in 1978, Eleonore von Trapp revealed that her father was not sure he wanted his children performing, “but accepted it as God’s will that they sing for others.
It almost hurt him to have his family onstage, not from a snobbish view, but more from a protective one.” The decision seems like a good one, since the family ended up winning first place in the Salzburg Music Festival in 1936.
Not A Whole Lot Of Love
In the movie, romance quickly blossoms between Maria and George, but in real life nothing was further from the truth. Maria had no particular feelings for the captain, she saved them all for his children. When she met them for the first time, now that was love at first sight, but her love for George took more time to develop.
When he asked her to marry him, she accepted because of the way he proposed, asking for her hand so that someone would take care of the children. Maria was torn between her religious duties at the convent and Georg’s offer of marriage, but in the end even the nuns believed she should tie the knot.
Maria The Novelist
Maria, in an effort to show off her poor writing skills, surprised herself and the world when she inadvertently wrote a best-selling novel. The Sound of Music was inspired by her memoir titled “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”. It was published in 1949 by the J.B. Lippincott Company in Pennsylvania.
When the book gained popularity, Maria made a film deal with German producers, but little did she know that she was signing away her rights to her life story while signing the contract. This bad deal is the reason that Maria and the rest of the von Trapps never received any of the proceeds from the movie that made them famous around the world.
Opposites Attract
Another difference between the Hollywood version and the real story are Georg and Maria’s temperaments. The film shows Georg as the stern and distant Captain, but in fact he was a warm and loving father to his children and spent a lot of his time doing things with them. Maria, who in the film was warm and fuzzy, actually had a more volatile personality.
Maria, the second eldest daughter, in an interview from 2003, remarked that her stepmother “had a terrible temper… And from one moment to the next, you didn’t know what hit her. We were not used to this. But we took it like a thunderstorm that would pass, because the next minute she could be very nice.”
Maria Took Charge
When Maria joined the family, she made a lot of changes to the von Trapp household, and that’s without counting her angry outbursts or door slamming. She took charge of the family finances and let all of the household staff go. She also decided to take in boarders for extra income. This was actually a smart idea, because there was a worldwide depression at the time, and the bank where the von Trapps kept their fortune had collapsed, leaving them in dire financial straits.
As another source of income, the family started singing professionally. After their first prize win at the music festival, they booked performances all over Europe.