"The Sound of Music"- The Film and the Reality Quiz

Answer: Salzburg

In the beginning of the movie, where Maria and the Mother Abbess were talking about Maria singing on the mountain, Maria said that she grew up on that mountain. Later in the conversation she also said that she used to look down upon the nuns while they were working in the garden and she longed to be one of them. Later in the movie, Maria and the children are running around town singing and having the time of their lives.

This scene is referred to later as to have taken place in Salzburg. This is the same place we see Maria walking through on her way from the abbey to the Von Trapp-estate at the beginning.

A couple of times the family is shown at the setting for the Salzburg Music Festival. For these reasons I assume the movie must be set around Salzburg.

Answer: The children needed a governess.

Maria Von Trapp (the real name of the child portrayed as "Louisa" in the movie) was sick and couldn't attend regular school with the others. Therefore she needed a private teacher. In the movie, all the children were in good health but their father was having trouble keeping a governess at the house because the children kept playing tricks on them to get their father's attention.

The fact that one of the children was named Maria, was part of the reason why the children's names were changed in the movie, as it would be confusing having two characters named Maria.

Answer: Georg was strict and Maria very loving.

In the movie, the housekeeper told Maria that the house used to be filled with laughter. Since Georg's wife died he ran the house with whistles, like he was on one of his ships again, even the children wore uniforms. While Georg was in Vienna, Maria taught the children how to sing.
Both were very musical, but at the time of Maria's arrival Georg didn't allow music in the house (which included himself).

Answer: First a girl and the second a boy.

The real Von Trapp children were (in order by age) named Rupert, Agathe, Maria, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna and Martina. The characters in the movie were (in order by age) called Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Martha and Gretl.

Answer: Uncle Max

In the movie, Uncle Max seemed obsessed about earning money on singing groups. Even the first time he was seen in the movie he heard a choir singing and wondered if he could get them to sing at the Salzburg Music Festival. After he heard the Von Trapp-children sing he almost begged Georg to let them sing at the festival.

There was one difference between Reverend Franz Wasner and Uncle Max, the reverend accompanied the family on their escape and continued as their director afterwards, whereas Uncle Max said goodbye to the family at the festival.

Answer: Georg Von Trapp

In the movie, when Maria and Georg sang "Something Good", she said that she had loved him ever since he had blown "that stupid whistle" when she arrived. He had loved her since she sat on "that silly pine cone" at her first dinner at the house. The real Maria has said that she felt she married the children, because it was for them she married their father. In the movie she also loved the children, but in the scene where Georg proposed they were singing about how they loved each other. During that scene, it is shown pretty clearly that Maria didn't accept the proposal out of obligation or her love for the children.

Answer: They didn't lose their fortune in the movie.

In 1932, the bank, in which the Von Trapps kept their savings, collapsed and the family had no money. This fact wasn't brought into the movie as the Von Trapps were rich all the way through the movie.

Answer: Georg didn't want his children singing in public.

In the movie, Georg didn't want his children to sing in public. Georg only let his children sing on stage at the festival on the night of the escape because they were followed and watched by members of the Third Reich. After Maria had taught the children to sing, they loved singing and begged their father to let them sing at the festival.

Answer: Hiking over the mountains to Switzerland

After arriving home from his honeymoon, Georg received a letter telling him to report at Bremerhaven the following morning for his new position in the Third Reich. That evening the family left their house quietly. A lot of other stuff then happened which led to the family having to hike over the mountains at night after the borders were closed.

In real life, Georg was born in Italy so he and his children were Italian citizens and could easily enter Italy. But Italy, being an ally of Germany, wasn't safe either so they continued on a concert-tour which ended in America where they would be protected by the U.S.

Answer: None of them

The movie doesn't show any of Maria's own children. At the time of the escape they only have Georg's seven children. In real life, Georg and Maria had Rosmarie and Eleonore in Austria and therefore brought them along on the escape and then Johannes was born in 1939, after arriving in America.
In real life, Maria had been pregnant eight times while being married to Georg but sadly only three children survived.