Charles Steele von Stade
Born(1919-11-24)November 24, 1919
Old Westbury, Long Island
DiedApril 10, 1945(1945-04-10) (aged 25)
Germany
Cause of deathKilled in action
Resting placeNetherlands American Cemetery and Memorial,
Eijsden-Margraten, Netherlands
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPolo player
SpouseSara Worthington Clucas
ChildrenCharles Steele von Stade, Jr.
Frederica von Stade
Parent(s)Francis Skiddy von Stade, Sr.
Kathryn Nevitt Steele

Charles Steele von Stade (November 24, 1919 – April 10, 1945) was an American polo champion.

Biography

Personal life

Charles Steele von Stade was born in Old Westbury, Long Island, New York on November 24, 1919, to Francis Skiddy von Stade, Sr. (1884–1967) and Kathryn Nevitt Steele (1896–1981). He was raised in Saratoga Springs, New York, and trained as an architect.[1] He married Sara Worthington Clucas (1918–1983) in Gladstone, New Jersey, on January 24, 1942.

Polo

In 1941, together with John H. H. Phipps, Michael Grace Phipps and Alan L. Corey, Jr., he won the U.S. Open Polo Championship at the Meadow Brook Polo Club against the Westbury team (Gerald Dempsey, Earle Hopping, Stewart Iglehart and Windsor Holden White).[2]

Military service

Von Stade enlisted in the United States Army in March 1942, achieving rank of first lieutenant.[1] While fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazi regime in the Second World War, he was killed in action in Germany on April 10, 1945, when his Jeep ran over a land mine.[3] He is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Eijsden-Margraten, Netherlands.[4]

Elegies

During his time in service, Charles von Stade wrote several heart-felt letters to his wife, who was pregnant with their second child.[5] Their daughter, Frederica von Stade, was born after he was killed in World War II, and grew to become an internationally renowned opera singer.[3] She had long wished to turn some of the letters by her father into a song cycle. Eventually some of his words and expressions were fashioned into poems by Kim Vaeth and in 1997, Richard Danielpour completed composition of the music.[5] The resulting work, entitled Elegies, was a cycle of songs for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and chamber orchestra,[6] which was performed at Carnegie Hall.[3] According to Classics Today, "The five songs form a sort of a conversation across the gulf of time between father and daughter. The text alludes to their separation, longing for each other, and their eventual reconciliation on the spiritual plane."[5]

Elegies has been recorded by Sony Masterworks, with Frederica von Stade, Thomas Hampson, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Perspectives Ensemble conducted by Roger Nierenberg.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946. College Park, Maryland: National Archives at College Park. pp. ARC: 1263923. World War II Army Enlistment Records, Record Group 64, published at Ancestry.com. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  2. ↑ Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in the United States: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 98
  3. 1 2 3 Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in the United States: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011, p. 355
  4. ↑ United States Army Quartermaster General’s Office. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army. pp. published at Ancestry.com. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Carr Jr., Victor. "Danielpour's Elegies". Classics Today. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  6. 1 2 R.D. "DANIELPOUR: Elegies (1997)". Classical CD Review. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
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