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Faithr
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| Posted: June 19 2010 at 7:18am | IP Logged
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We are getting an Austrian exchange student 7/11 so I'm trying to do a crash course in all things Austrian. We've already watched The Sound of Music (we'd seen it several times before, but this time we watched, keeping in mind that we've got an Austrian visitor coming). I've just ordered a Rick Steves program on Austria from netflix. I'm trying to think of books to read aloud to the younger ones (8 and 11) or that the older kids can read (15 and 19, 18 yo is gone for the summer so I'm not including him LOL!).
Any suggestions? Thanks!
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 19 2010 at 9:51am | IP Logged
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I have many suggestions, all over the board, not all books.
Old Threads
::Books set in Austria
::Austria
::January Composer: Mozart
::Mozart’s 250th b-day
Some children's books suggestions here: Travel for Kids
I do think Maria von Trapp is a great way to be immersed in the Austrian culture (pre-WWII, though). Before Sound of Music there was a German movie, The Trapp Family (Die Trapp-Familie). If you can find a copy, it does keep more closely to the real life story.
Trapp Family, Maria’s writings
Sound of Music is wonderful, but the book is so much better. And Maria wrote several other books, too. While they aren’t set in Austria like the first one, they do touch on Austrians adjusting to American culture.
::Story of the Trapp Family Singers
::Family On Wheels
::Yesterday, Today and Forever
::Maria: My Own Story
::When King was Carpenter
And her liturgical book Around the Year with the Trapp Family: Keeping the Feasts and Seasons of the Liturgical Year is a classic.
Online text. Search the online text to find references to Austrian traditions. I also have a blog with most of the book online, with graphics
Books about the Trapp Family for younger set
::The world of the Trapp Family by William Anderson
::Maria Von Trapp: Beyond the Sound of Music by Candice F. Ransom
::V is for Von Trapp: A Musical Family Alphabet by William Anderson (This is not available until September, but I cannot wait!)
The Music
What is not brought out in the “Sound of Music” is that the Trapp Family Choir’s repertoire was preserving and Austrian folk songs and Catholic sacred music, including polyphony and chant.
Their conductor for many years was Father Franz Wasner, who wrote The Trapp Family Book of Christmas Songs, which includes carols from Austria, particularly the Tyrol or Alps region. It’s OOP, unfortunately.
Who's Knocking There? / Wer klopfet an?,
Shepherds, Up! / Hirten, auf um Mitternacht!,
The Darkness is Falling / Es Wird scho glei dumpa,
Carol of the Children of Bethlehem / Lied der Kinder zu Bethlehem
...and of course, Silent Night / Weihnachtslied.
Still in print are some of their Trapp Family Recorder books, to learn and play the recorder.
Recordings
I have a few of their old LPs, and some cds. I highly recommend any of their original recordings. You will find all sorts of folk tunes, but many Austrian tunes, plus recorders and yodeling...a great sampling of Austrian folk at its best.
::One Voice
::At Home with the Trapp Family Singers
::Christmas With the Trapp Family Singers
::The Original Trapp Family Singers
::The Sound of Christmas
For your older children, they will be captivated by
::The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM . There is mention of many of these little groups in Austria and Germany where people were trying to preserve their culture, as Nazism was wiping all traces of Catholic culture from the map.
Another Austrian and Trapp connection is all of Father Francis X. Weiser S.J.'s works. He was Austrian and a dear friend of the Trapp. All titles by Father Weiser are so good. He's the reference point for Catholic feasts and customs, but his works do mention many beautiful Austrian customs. I would again search the online text for some ideas. Be sure to search for words like "Tyrol" and "Alps" and "Austria" to get a full effect.
Some other ideas:
Do a quick search on Catholic Culture to bring up old encyclicals regarding Austria in the 1800s in the documents section, and then in the Liturgical Year section there are pages (many from Trapp and Weiser) on Austria, both recipes and customs.
The Story of Silent Night
::Silent Night: The Story of a Song by Hertha Pauli (who wrote several Vision Books), Copyright 1943, this gives the background on the writing of this classic Christmas carol.
::Silent Night: The Song and Its Story by Margaret Hodges
Saints of Austria
Patrons of Austria
• Colman of Stockerau
• Florian
• Joseph
• Leopold the Good
• Maurice
• Our Lady of Mariazell
• Severinus of Noricum
Musical Composers of Austria
No time to list books or music, but following trails of
Czerny
Haydn
Mozart
Schubert
Strauss
And many more Austrian composers…
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Faithr
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| Posted: June 19 2010 at 10:45am | IP Logged
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Wow! What a treasure trove of information! Thank you so much!
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Mary G
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| Posted: June 19 2010 at 8:42pm | IP Logged
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Where is she from ... we were in Gaming (SE of Vienna in Niederoesteriche for 2 years). You might want to check out Marguerite Henry's The White Stallion of Lipizza -- a long picture book that tells the story of the famous Lipizzan stallions and shows the steps they are trained to do and tells a story of life in Vienna that is wonderful as a read-aloud. The Disney movie, Miracle of the White Stallions is about WW2 and is also about Lipizzaners from the story by a man who trained them.
As Jenn mentioned, Sound of Music and the VonTrapps are good -- especially if she is from the Salzburg area.
There are some wonderful internet sites I can post if you let me know if there's a special area she's from -- Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck (there is a VERY cool story about a Eucharistic miracle that occured in a village right near Innsbruck -- I can send you the info).
Just let me know!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Books set in Austria
