HAVE GERMAN WILL TRAVEL sound of Music "The Sound of Music": Fact or Fiction Real Story of the von Trapp Family "The Hills Are Alive!" Interview with Agathe von Trapp, author of "Memories Before and After 'The Sound of Music'" October 28, 20 I 0 Editor's note: Stricken in November with congestive heart failure, Agathe van Trapp died on Dec. 28, 2010. Few shows are as beloved as The Sound ofMusic. It has inspired countless theater productions, tours, revivals, soundtracks, public sing-alongs and "spontaneous" performances - not to mention private concerts with fans belting out "The hills are alive ... ! " and every lyric of "My Favorite Things" all on their own. So popular is the movie - still- it has inspired a full-cast reunion on Oprah, complete with adoring, screaming fans. To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the movie, the AARP Bulletin sat down with Agathe von Trapp, the oldest daughter of the famous musical family. - Don't recognize her name? Not surprising, since the movie was quite different from what really happened to the von Trapps in Austria before and during World War 11. There was no Liest, and the children's father was far from a tyrant. A beloved, gentle man, he encouraged Agathe to learn beekeeping and took the children on extended camping trips filled with music. And while actress Julie Andrews made Maria, their movie-version stepmother, famous, the real stepmother wasn't called Maria at all, but Gusti. Agathe, now 97, has a great sense of humor, a peaceful smile and traces of a German accent. She invited us into her Baltimore home to chat about her family, their life together and her book, Memories Before and After The Sound ofMusic. .