A couple of weeks ago I finished reading an amazing book that was first published in 1949 by Maria Augusta von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. I absolutely loved every bit of this book. The faith of the von Trapp family, and especially Maria was so inspiring. I felt the whole spectrum of emotions joy, fear, awe, loss, excitement, worry and I laughed aloud many times too. I highly recommend this book. It was written in first person by the matriarch herself and tells a more detailed, real and longer story than the (wonderful) 1965 film.
After finishing the book, of course I had to re-watch the movie The Sound of Music. This is my mother’s favorite movie so I have seen it many times before, but I saw it with fresh eyes this time. The 174 minute film only represents the first 126 pages of the 312 page book that inspired it. The book goes on to tell about the family’s travels to America, their singing tours, music camp and more. It is not a boring autobiography. It is inspiring, enlightening and humorous.
On another note, on September 5th I wrote a post called “Music in Life” in which to told y’all about my left hand’s adventure learning to play the piano along with my right hand… I am pleased to share that I have memorized and mastered Edelweiss on the piano. With my reading of this book, watching the movie and discussions of my family’s German/Austrian ancestry, I thought this was a great song to sit down and teach myself to play properly.
[…] The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (Maria Trapp) I loved this book and passed it on to my mother to read as well. The Academy Award Winning film The Sound of Music was based on this book. The von Trapp family’s faith through all their struggles and success is so inspiring. This book also had some amusing aspects, like when the Austrian family was learning to speak English on their way to America. I wrote a post about this book earlier, for more information about it click here.) […]