Frederica von Stade: Difference between revisions

Frederica von Stade—always Flicka (her childhood nickname) to her family, friends and fans—was born in [[Somerville, New Jersey]] on 1 June 1945, the daughter of Sara Clucas von Stade and [[Charles Steele von Stade]], a 1941 US Polo Champion, who had been killed by a landmine while serving with the US Army in Germany during World War II. Her early infancy was largely spent in the affluent hunt country of [[Somerset County, New Jersey]], with a brief interlude in Greece and Italy during her mother's short-lived second marriage to a US [[State Department]] official, Horace Fuller.

 

 

With the help of a graduation gift from her [[Francis Skiddy von Stade Sr.|grandfather]], she spent a gap year studying and working in Paris before getting a job as a salesgirl in the stationery department of [[Tiffany's]], [[New York City]]. She began her performing career acting in summer stock at the [[Long Wharf Theater]] and singing in nightclubs and in [[industrial musical|industrial musicals]]. In 1966 she visited New York's [[Mannes School of Music]] intending to take a part-time course in sight-reading, but was persuaded to enrol in its undergraduate music programme instead. In the second year of her course, she began studying opera under Sebastian Engelberg, who remained her teacher and most important mentor until his death in 1979.

 

==Career==

 

In 1971, the Met allowed her to moonlight in [[San Francisco Opera|San Francisco]] and in [[Santa Fe Opera|Santa Fe]] as [[La clemenza di Tito|Sesto]] and [[Le nozze di Figaro|Cherubino]] respectively, but in 1972, hungry for more challenging roles, she decided to embark on a career as a freelance. She debuted as Cherubino in [[Houston Grand Opera|Houston]] and as [[Il barbiere di Siviglia|Rosina]] in [[Washington National Opera|Washington DC]] in 1973. That was also the year when she first sang in Europe: she was highly acclaimed as Cherubino—her signature role—in celebrated productions by [[Giorgio Strehler]] in [[Opéra de Paris|Paris]] and by [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]] at [[Glyndebourne Festival|Glyndebourne]]. Soon she was singing in all of opera's most prestigious houses, appearing as Cherubino in Salzburg in 1974, as Rosina at [[Royal Opera House Covent Garden|Covent Garden]] in 1975, as Rosina at [[Teatro alla Scala|La Scala]] in 1976 and as Cherubino in [[Vienna State Opera|Vienna]] in 1977. Her recording of [[Joseph Haydn]]'s ''[[Harmoniemesse]]'' (taped under [[Leonard Bernstein]] in 1973) was the first item in what grew to be a large and eclectic discography, and a telecast of ''[[Le nozze di Figaro]]'' from Glyndebourne in 1973 launched her on a television career that eventually made her a familiar face on screens in America and across the world. The highlights of her performing life included singing in Washington DC for Presidents [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]], [[James Earl Carter|Carter]], [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] and [[George Herbert Walker Bush|George H. W. Bush]], starring in a gala staged in honour of the [[1992 Winter Olympics]] and participating in a televised concert led by [[Leonard Slatkin]] to mourn those murdered in the terrorist atrocities of [[September 11 attacks|9/11]].

 

 

 

Von Stade ceased performing full time in 2010, but she continued to make occasional appearances near her [[East Bay]] home and elsewhere throughout the following decade and into the 2020s. Her activities in semi-retirement have included taking part in benefit concerts, judging singing competitions and teaching interpretation in master classes.

 

==Further reading==

 

==Select discography==