Trapp Salzburg villa alive with `sound of music`

Vienna July 26: Salzburg is alive with the sound of music once again, as the von Trapp family's villa opened its doors to the public this weekend for the first time, as a hotel and museum. The villa in Aigen, a southeastern suburb of Salzburg, was for over 15 years the home of Captain von Trapp, his seven children and their governess Maria, who would inspire a Broadway musical, an Oscar-winning film and some of the best-loved characters on the silver screen. Now, 70 years after the family left Austria for the United States following the Nazis' annexation of the country in 1938, and over 40 years after cinema audiences were first treated to "The Sound of Music," the estate has rediscovered its roots. The 878 square meter (9,450 square feet) "Villa Trapp" opened on Friday afternoon in the presence of one of the children, Maria von Trapp, aged 93. "It’s very nice to be here, I feel like home again", she said at a press conference in the villa. The original mansion with its imperial yellow facade, white borders and dark green shutters, surrounded by trees, offers what no film location can: a sense of history. The late-19th century mansion by Italian architect Valentin Ceconi was the home of Captain von Trapp and his seven children -- their real names: Rupert, Agathe, Maria, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna and Martina -- from 1923 to 1938. And this is where "Fraeulein Maria" -- actually Maria Kutschera, a teacher from Vienna who had joined the Nonnberg Benedictine convent in Salzburg -- was first introduced to the children and her future husband whom she married in 1927. Now, the villa, which is still owned by the missionaries who inhabited the grounds until recently, has been turned into a hotel and event location, catering to wedding parties and dinners, even offering cakes from one of Maria von Trapp's own recipes. Starting in 2009, the Villa Trapp will also organise another true Austrian tradition: a grand annual summer ball. Meanwhile, guests can stay in the suite that once served as Captain von Trapp's office, or in the parlour in which the family took their afternoon tea. "In each hallway, in each corner, you will find a piece of the history of a world-famous family," boasts the villa's website. In the grand salon, one can admire photographs of the family, a bell from Captain von Trapp's ship and a model boat he built himself, while on the sprawling estate guests can sit on a bench where he used to relax. Appropriately, the villa's opening coincides with two important dates on the Austrian calendar. 2008 marks the 70th anniversary of the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria and the von Trapps' departure for the United States, where they would ultimately settle down in Vermont. The Villa Trapp's inauguration also came a day before the opening of the world-renowned annual Salzburg Festival, in which the von Trapp family singers won their first prize in 1937, before playing in venues around Europe and the United States.