On March 27, 1944, Chicago Tribune music critic Albert Goldberg reviewed an auspicious debut that had occurred the previous evening in Orchestra Hall:

“A musical event wholly out of the beaten path of such observances was the concert given by the Trapp Family Singers before a full house at Orchestra Hall yesterday afternoon. Present were Baroness Maria von Trapp and her daughters, Agathe, Johanna, Eleonore, Maria, Rosemarie, Hedwig and Martina, who divide themselves into five sopranos and three contraltos, sometimes joined by the pleasant baritone of their conductor and family priest, Dr. Franz Wasner. Introduced, but silent, was the Baron von Trapp, the chaperon and father of this lively aggregation, and missing were Johannes, who tends the family farm in Vermont, and three [sic] other sons [there were 10 children in total, so the two other sons would have been Rupert and Werner] who are with the ski troops of the United States Army.”

Read more: The Trapp Family Singers at Orchestra Hall.