The Sound of Music: When Maria met George von Trapp

When first released in 1965, the American musical drama, based on a true story, enjoyed an initial box office run of four-and-a-half years, attracting 283 million cinema admissions globally and breaking ticket sale records in an incredible 29 countries.

The plot related the tale of a free-spirited young woman, Andrews’ character Maria, as she studied to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938. Her training wasn’t going too well and the Mother Abbess had concerns about her lack of discipline and general youthful exuberance.

Maria’s life was about to change forever, not only because of the dark rumblings of World War II on the horizon, but also due to widowed former naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp seeking a governess for his seven children.

After being despatched to the Von Trapp family home to take the job, Maria realised Georg was running the household with military discipline rather than with love and affection and set about trying to change things. However, her relationship with Georg Von Trapp had a rocky start due to their very different personalities and his initial thoughts were to fire her.

Gradually, the kind and lively young woman began to win over the starchy captain, not least because his children obviously adored her.

Winning a host of accolades including five Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and the Writers’ Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical, the film netted Andrews a Best Actress Award and was voted the fourth-greatest musical of all time by the American Film Institute.

In 2001, the US Library of Congress honoured The Sound of Music by preserving it in the National Film Registry, hailing it as “historically, culturally or aesthetically significant” – a great honour for any film.

First meeting

When Maria met Georg Von Trapp, the two leading characters of The Sound of Music could hardly have had a worse start. Georg had gone away to Vienna on a business trip and in his absence, Maria began to treat the Von Trapp children with kindness, rather than the cold discipline their father had exhibited since his wife’s death.

Previous governesses had soon left after the siblings played tricks on them, but Maria responded with love instead and soon won their respect. After making them some brightly coloured new clothes from old curtains, she took them on cycle rides to see the beautiful countryside around Salzburg and the mountains, while also teaching them to sing in unison.

Maria’s famous meeting with her new employer as she and the children returned from a lively day out almost led to her being fired. The captain arrived home with guests, the wealthy Baroness Elsa Schraeder and their mutual friend Max Detweiler, but was greeted by Maria and his children overturning their rowing boat on the lake and shrieking with laughter!

Furious at being embarrassed in front of visitors, he attempted to sack the governess, but relented after hearing his children singing for the baroness later, as there had been no music in the house since his wife’s death. Feeling emotional as he joined in the singing, Georg agreed Maria could stay on.

Over time, Maria’s free-spirited, musical nature began to soften Georg’s disciplinarian, authoritative personality and her influence played a key role in mending his fractured relationship with his children.

The film’s timeless appeal is largely due to its themes of the importance of family, with the wonderful music on the soundtrack playing a massive part. Songs such as My Favourite Things, Do-Re-Mi, The Sound of Music, Climb Every Mountain and many more were written by the legendary Broadway composer Richard Rodgers.

How old was Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music?

Andrews was 29 when she starred as Maria in the Sound of Music, and although the age of her character wasn’t set in stone, she was generally accepted to be around 20 at the start of the film. Theatrical productions of the musical on Broadway have set her age as being between 20 and 35.

In the film, Georg was considerably older than the governess, but Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, who starred as the captain, was only six years older than Andrews in real life. He was considered to be between 35 and 45 at the start of the film.

The Sound of Music was based on the true story of the Von Trapp family, although the screenplay used artistic licence to romanticise their lives. The real Maria Von Trapp had graduated from teacher training college in Vienna in 1923, aged 18, and entered Nonnberg Abbey in 1924 to train as a nun.

Although she became governess for the real Von Trapp family in 1926, the true events took place a decade earlier than they were portrayed in the film. The real Maria Von Trapp married Georg, who was 25 years her senior, in 1927, as his first wife Agathe had died of scarlet fever in 1922. Maria became stepmother to his seven children and they had three children of their own, finding fame as the Trapp Family Singers.

After performing at a music festival in 1935, they became a touring act, leaving Austria in September 1938 following Germany’s annexation of their country six months earlier. They later moved to Vermont in the United States, where they ran a music camp and continued touring as a choir.

In The Sound of Music, the action was set in the 1930s, with Maria and Georg marrying in 1938 – eleven years later than their real-life wedding. The film portrayed a romanticised version of their departure from Austria, with the music festival playing a key role.

Both real life and film version of the Von Trapp story demonstrate the way family bonds, kindness and love, combined with the joy of music and singing, bring happiness and contentment to our lives. This timeless message has ensured the continued popularity of The Sound of Music 60 years after its release.