Werner von Trapp

Oct 17 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

HE WAS the flesh behind the celluloid image, but in truth it was the face on the screen which left the lasting impression.

That’s life when your family becomes the subject of one of the most successful movies ever made.

At the very mention of his name, people heard the words and fragments of melody – the hills are alive with . . . doe, a deer a female deer . . . edelweiss, bless my homeland forever . . . ”

That homeland was, of course, Austria, where Werner von Trapp was brought up at his father’s home in the Austrian Alpine town of Zell am See, where he learned to play the cello and other musical instruments.

His father, Baron Georg von Trapp had been a U-boat commander in the Imperial Austrian Navy during the Great War, serving with such bravery that the honour of adding the “von” to the family name was conferred upon him.

Georg married Agathe Whitehead, who died of scarlet fever in 1922. By then, they had seven children who performed as amateurs in local concerts.

In the 1965 film, The Sound of Music, a wonderful adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, the Baron (Christopher Plummer) is perhaps unfairly presented as a stiff figure, particularly at the beginning.

Maria Jutschera, a former postulant, was governess to the children and suggested that they should be paid for their performances. Werner, later a tenor, was played by Duane Chase in the film, saying on introduction to Maria, “I’m Kurt, I’m 11, I’m incorrigible”.

Maria (Julie Andrews in the film) married the baron in 1927 and they had three children together.

As the Nazis rose to power, the reputation of the von Trapps also spread. But the baron loathed his fellow countryman Adolf Hitler and when Austria was annexed by Germany in 1938, the family fled.

Again, the film is a little cavalier with the truth, having the family walk over the Alps to safety in Switzerland.

In fact, they caught a train to Italy and then sailed to the USA. Ironically, Werner served with the US Army in the war, fighting in Italy.

After the war, the von Trapps returned to the stage, retiring in 1956. Von Trapp, married with six children opened a music school in Reading, Pennsylvania, and then became a farmer in Vermont.

Werner von Trapp, musician and farmer; born December 21, 1915, died October 11, 2007