Sound of Music museum opens in Salzburg, separating film from real von Trapp story

A new museum dedicated to The Sound of Music has opened in Salzburg, offering visitors a first-of-its-kind exhibition on the 1965 film and the family whose story inspired it.

The Sound of Music Salzburg museum is housed in the 17th-century Hellbrunn Palace, where many scenes from the movie were shot. It opened on Sunday in the Austrian city best known as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Among those present was Elisabeth von Trapp, granddaughter of Georg and Agathe von Trapp. She continues to lead guided tours of film locations in Salzburg.

She described the museum as intimate enough to convey the storyline of both the musical and the Trapp family singers, her relatives, adding that she was proud of the result.

Her father, Werner, was one of the original Trapp Family Singers, though film audiences know his character by a different name. She noted that he is depicted in the movie as Kurt, and that his name was Werner von Trapp.

The exhibition sets out to distinguish the real-life history of the von Trapp family from the 1959 Broadway musical and the later Hollywood production. Set against Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938, the story follows a governess named Maria who teaches the seven von Trapp children to sing before falling in love with their widowed father and employer.

Museum officials note that the real Georg von Trapp, a submarine commander in the Austro-Hungarian navy, was not the strict paternalist portrayed by Christopher Plummer in the film, but a considerate, albeit much-burdened, father.

Visitors can see nearly 450 objects, including props and costumes from the film, cinema posters and recordings of the music. A centrepiece is the gazebo where Liesl von Trapp and her suitor Rolf sing the courtship duet "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."

The film, which won five Oscars including best picture, has long drawn fans to Salzburg, with several hundred thousand visiting the city each year. John and Terry Combs, a couple from Dayton, Ohio, joined von Trapp on her walking tour. Terry Combs said the combination of the movie and the real family story, which she had read about over the years, brought the experience full circle.

The exhibition is open daily until November 1. After closing late this year, the museum is scheduled to reopen next March.