We returned today from a long weekend to the Illinois Christian Home Educations Conference. It was very informative. The most, I should say only, enjoyable part of the trip for our girls was the vonTrapp children Concert.
The vonTrapp children are carrying on the families musical tradition. These are the grandchildren of Werner (Kurt in the movie). Their father is Stefan. They sang several songs from the Sound of Music along with some folk and relatively new songs mixed into the mix. They are well worth the money if you loved the movie.
Sofie, the soprano, is only 15. She has a great range, but her voice needs to mature some more. Justin, the 10 year old boy is the showoff in the act. He is fun to watch. They are at their best when they are harmonizing. They have put in a lot of time practicing and it shows. This is a wonderful show for all ages, from young to old. They enjoy themselves on stage and were laughing at themselves in several songs.
They are a refreshing break from all the current Pop-Tart, Diva wannabees out there in music today. My whole family recommends them wholeheartedly.
During the show, they told several stories about the real story of the vonTrapp family. Here they are in no particular order:
- The movie compressed 13 years into 3 months.
- At the time they left Austria, Maria and Captain vonTrapp had been married 11 years and had already had 2 children together and a third on the way.
- They did not cross the Alps to escape, they took a train to Italy.
- Captain vonTrapp was not being called back into service, the family had refused to sing Happy Birthday to Hitler twice and they would have been put into a concentration camp if they refused again.
- There first home in the US was in Germantown, PA and they arrived here with $3 to their name. They moved to Vermont later.
- The first song they learned in English was "My Old Kentucky Home".
- Captain vonTrapp did call his children with a whistle.
- Captain vonTrapp was a submarine hero in World War I. He died from lung cancer because of this.
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Article comments
1 - Aaman
The movie was a butchered up version of the book, "The Von Trapp Family Singers" by Maria Von Trapp(0060005777). It was a great, formative film, though.
2 - Aaman
Please add some Amazon links - one is given above