Trapp Family Singers
Trapp Family Singers, with Maria Augusta von Trapp in the foreground.
The Sound Of Music is one of the most popular musical films ever made. It is the story of the von Trapps— seven motherless children, their stern sea-captain father, and most of all, their feisty, but sweet governess. Yet, the von Trapps Family is not just a Hollywood creation. They are an actual family—and the story of the real von Trapps could not be more different from the musical version. Georg von Trapp, a widowed Austrian aristocrat did marry the governess, Maria Kutschera. When the von Trapps lost their considerable fortune in a bank crash, Maria took over. With the help of a local priest, she took the family hobby—singing—and turned it into the family profession. Before long, the von Trapp Family was performing all over Europe.
In March of 1938, the Nazis marched into Salzburg and the von Trapps decided it was time to leave Austria. Maria arranged an American concert tour, and the family was able to escape Hitler. They left behind their home and all that remained of their wealth, and would never return. They did not need to climb any mountains to escape. They left by train (the local stop was directly behind their estate) and made their way to Italy and then to America without incident. Once in the United States, the von Trapps struggled to establish themselves as a choral singing group. They sang mostly in German, had a repertoire of difficult classical music, and dressed like refugees. But Maria would not let them fail. She hired a top manager and a publicist. Before long, the family singing group became quite a phenomenon.
Even when the family was at the height of their popularity, Maria would not let them rest. The ten children (Maria and Georg had three children together) toured up to eight months a year. During the summer they worked their Vermont farm and ran a music camp. The isolation of a life on the road or on the farm, combined with constant work and Maria's volatile temper, took its toll. Rosmarie, Maria's eldest child, suffered a nervous breakdown and her mother sent her for electro-shock therapy. Another daughter ran away to elope. Before long, Maria was forced to hire non-family members for the family singing group. The family suffered, but Maria made them sound harmonious and heroic in her book, The Trapp Family Singers, which she wrote as a way to help promote the group. To her surprise, the book was a success and it would eventually find its way into the hands of the reigning Broadway star of the 1950s, Mary Martin. Martin and her producers started to work on the project that would become The Sound Of Music - the musical that vaulted a family of Austrian immigrants to worldwide attention and made Maria a celebrity.
While The Sound Of Music has been an extremely successful and profitable property, the von Trapps themselves profited little from the musical interpretation of their lives. Maria had sold the rights to her book for a flat fee—no royalties—long before Mary Martin came into the picture. Today, most of the surviving von Trapp Family live down-to-earth lives in rural Vermont. The Sound Of Music continues to captivate audiences around the world. On March 12, 1998, the revival of the musical opened on Broadway, and every year some 500 to 600 high schools perform their versions the show. The von Trapps take pride not in The Sound Of Music, but in their own music—music that they performed together as a family for almost twenty years.
When Mary Martin debuted in Rodgers and Hammerstein's hugely popular "The Sound of Music" in 1959, the play's subjects, the Von Trapp Family, had recently concluded their successful music career. Touring the world for 20 years, they brought a unique mixture of liturgical music, madrigals, folk music and instrumentals to audiences in over 30 countries. Loosely based on the life story of Captain Georg von Trapp, his second wife Maria, and his 7 children by his first wife, Agathe. The music of the play was quite different from the music performed by the Trapps in thousands of live performances, but fortunately they recorded hundreds of choral and instrumental works with RCA and Decca. One Voice is the first definitive compilation, a two-CD set of 36 songs apiece, of the choir's musical history, from 1935 to 1956. A few of our many favorites are German Folk songs "In Stiller Nacht," "Song of Parting," "Muss I'Denn" and "Jagerlied," Australian Folk song "Waltzing Matilda;" Maori Folk song "Pokare Kareana;" Austrian Folk songs "Der Gru" (The Cricket) and "Die Hoch Alma" (The Highest Mountains); Spanish Folk song "Pastores A Belen;" Christmas and religious tunes "Carol of the Drum," "Angels We Have Heard on High," Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," Humperdinck's "Evening Prayer," Palestrina's "O Bone Jesu" and many, many others. A wonderfully sung collection that touches and entertains!
| 8640 2CDs $19.95 |
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Ev'ry Year Brings Something New The Farmer's Boy Waltzing Mathilda The Lone Prairie An Eriskay Love Lilt Early One Morning Trio (J. Hook) In Einem Kuhlen Grunde (F. Gluck) Kuck Hat Sich Zu Tod Geffallen Muss I Denn (Zum Stadtele Hinaus) Innsbruck, Ich Muss Dich Lassen (H. Isaac Alt-Niederlandische Tanze Es Wollt Ein Jagerlein Jagen Vocal Yodel S'Dirndl Is' Wunderschon Two Austrian Dances Auf Der Alm Hatt I Di Spinn, Spinn Marie Der Gru Die Hochalm Little Terzetto (F. Wasner) Andreas Hofers Abschied Vom Leben |
The Trapp Family Singers made famous in the movie "The Sound of Music" were an actual group that were fortunately able to escape the Nazis by arranging an American tour, leaving behind their home and all that remained of their wealth. They toured and recorded in the US for another decade and a half, and founded the Trapp Family Music Camp in Stowe, VT., at a lodge that is still run by the family today. The CD, the third in our catalog (following the excellent "The Original Trapp Family Singers" and "The Sound of Christmas") begins with 6 tunes sung in English, "Ev'ry Year Brings Something New," "The Farmer's Boy," "Waltzing Matilda," "The Lone Prairie," "An Eriskay Love Lilt" and "Early One Morning;" before continuing with German and Austrian tunes, "In einem kuhlen Grunde," Kuckuck hat sich zu Tod gefallen," "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen," Es wollt ein Jagerlein jagen," "Auf der Alm," "Spinn, spinn Marie" and many others, 23 in all. Occasional instrumental music. An inspiring story, and inspiring music sung by this talented, deservedly famous family!
| 7887 CD $13.98 |
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Innsburck, Ich Muss Dich Lassen Wohlauf ihr Lieben Gaste Landsknechtstandchen Feinslieb, Du Hast Mich Gefangen/ Tanzen und Springen Away In A Manger Main Einigs A Der Spate Abend Two Old Netherland Dances Il Bianco e Dolce Cigno Zu Bethlehem Geboren Die Martinsgans/ Ein Hennlein Weiss God Rest Ye Merry, Gentelmen Wach Auf, Wach Auf Intrade, Sarabande & Gigue Waldensnacht, Du Wunderkuhle Eriskay Love Lilt Come, Heavy Sleep Lavanthal, Lavanthal/ Die Auglein Voll Wasser In Einem Kuhlen Grunde Vom Himmel Hoch O Haupt Voll Blut und Wunden, Chorale Guten Abend, Gut' Nacht, op. 41 |
Everyone has heard the story of the Trapp Family, as dramatized in the beloved
musical, "The Sound of Music." After their discovery by German opera singer
Lotte Lehmann in 1936, they became a sensation in their native Austria. Hitler's
invasion in 1938 caused them to accept the offer of an American tour, and they
became exiles from their native land. The recordings preserved on this CD were
made upon their arrival in New York, continuing into 1941. The Trapp family
repetoire consisted of folk songs, madrigals, motets and classical chorales.
Later, they began a tradition of annual Christmas concerts, and several of those
carols are included in this collection. The recorder is a featured instrument
on "Intrade, Sarabande and Gigue," a series of lively dances from the baroque
era, and "Two Old Netherland Dances." The remaining twenty selections are a
cappella and show that the Trapp Family was no novelty act. With the aid of
their conductor and arranger Dr. Franz Wasner, their technique became consummately
professional, their intonation and blend first-rate, and their performances
confident and assured. Incomparable.
| 6503 CD $15.98 |
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Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen Hirten, Wachet Auf! Zu Bethlehem Geboren A La Nanita Nana El Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant La Canzone Di Natale Es Hat Sich Heut Eroffnet Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head Shepherds Come A-Running Lobt Gott Ihr Christen All Gleich Es Wird Scho Glei Dumpa Nu Ar Det Jul Igen Ihr Kinderlein Kommet Der Scheibendudler Carol of the Drum Deine Wangelen Weihnachtslied (Silent Night) |
Who doesn't know the dramatic and true story of the Von Trapp Family, who escaped from their Austrian homeland under the Nazi occupation? This singing family relocated to America, where they performed and recorded for many years. No novelty act, the ensemble, under the direction of conductor Dr. F. Wasner, sings first-rate a cappella arrangements (with the exception of "Ihr Kinderlein Kommet") of European carols, such as the Italian "La Canzone Di Natale," the Tyrolean "Es Hat Sich Heut Eroffnet" and the Polish "Shepherds Come A-Running." Some of these melodies will be familiar to American audiences, but some will not, which is part of their charm. This 1950's era mono recording is clean, present, and immediate; the vocal blend of the group is so natural and perfectly pitched, it requires nothing to complete it
Listen to "Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen" in Real Audio.
| 6427 CD $12.98 |
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The Chapter Before the First Just Loaned Glories of the Past "The Baron Doesn't Want It..." An Austrian Christmas "God's Will Hath No Why" Feasts in a Family A Festival Summer and a Baby Uncle Peter and His Handbook An Operation, a Turtle, and a Long Distance Call Aren't We Lucky! "Never Again" From Hobby to Profession And the Lord Said to Abram On the "American Farmer" The First Ten Years Are the Hardest Getting Settled Barbara What Next? In Sight of the Statue Learning New Ways The Miracle Merion |
With nearly 1,500 Broadway performances, six Tony Awards, more than three million albums sold, and five Academy Awards, The Sound of Music, based on the lives of Maria, the baron, and their singing children, is as familiar to most of us as our own family history. But much about the real-life woman and her family was left untold. Here, Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells in her own beautiful, simple words the extraordinary story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America. Now with photographs from the original edition.
| 6826 BOOK $13.95 |
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