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The real-life figure who inspired "The Sound of Music" was born Maria Augusta Kutschera. While studying to become a nun in Salzburg, Austria, she was sent to the home of a widowed naval captain, Georg von Trapp, to serve as a tutor for one of his children. The two eventually fell in love and married in 1927, and she took his family name. Together, she and Georg had three more children, adding to the seven from his first marriage.
Her 1949 memoir, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers," detailed her life and formed the basis for the famous musical and film. However, the Hollywood version took many creative liberties. The real Maria was known to be a strong-willed and determined woman, quite different from the gentle character portrayed on screen. Furthermore, the family's dramatic escape from Austria was not a hike over the Alps but a more straightforward departure by train to Italy for a concert tour, from which they never returned.
After leaving Austria, the family singing group toured internationally before immigrating to the United States in the late 1930s. They eventually settled in Stowe, Vermont, where they purchased a large farm. This property was later developed into the Trapp Family Lodge, a popular mountain resort that is still in operation today. She lived in Vermont for the remainder of her life, passing away there in 1987.
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