Eleonore von Trapp dies, her family inspired ‘The Sound of Music’

Eleonore von Trapp Campbell, the Austrian naturalized American singer, former member of the Trapp Family Singers, whose life was narrated in the 1949 Broadway musical, ‘The Sound of Music’ from which the film of the same name was later made in 1965, has died. Sunday in Northfield, Vermont, at the age of 90. The news of the death is reported by the New York Times. Eleonore, known as “Lorli”, was born in Salzburg on May 14, 1931, second child of Georg Ludwig von Trapp and his second wife Maria Augusta Kutschera. His brothers are Rosemarie von Trapp and Johannes von Trapp, but he had seven half-siblings born from his father’s first marriage to Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, who were the basis for the creation of the family of singers and who are now all deceased: Rupert von Trapp (1911-1992), Agathe von Trapp (1913-2010), Maria Franziska von Trapp (1914-2014), Werner von Trapp (1915-2007), Hedwig von Trapp (1917-1972), Johanna von Trapp (1919-1994 ) and Martina von Trapp (1921-1951). The Trapp Family moved to Italy, in the summer of 1939, and then to France and Scandinavia before moving permanently to the United States. Eleonore sang in the family choir from 1943 to 1953 in the role of first soprano. When her father died in May 1947, Eleonore was sixteen. In 1953, she married Hugh David Campbell, with whom she had seven daughters. The musical and subsequent film were loosely based on a 1949 autobiographical book by Maria von Trapp, who died in 1987. “The Sound of Music” tells the story of an Austrian housekeeper (played by Julie Andrews in the film) who marries her employer. working, a widower (Christopher Plummer in the film), and then teaches music to his seven children. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture. Furthermore, in 1991 the novel was transposed into an anime series directed by Kōzō Kusuba who arrived in Italy with the title of ‘Let’s sing together’.