Charles Steele von Stade

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

Biography

Personal life Charles von Stade was born in Old Westbury, Long Island, New York 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. 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 Aknusti team (Edward H. Gerry, Henry A. Gerry, George H. "Pete" Bostwick, and Elbridge T. Gerry)

Military service Von Stade enlisted in the United States Army in March 1942 and achieved the rank of first lieutenant. He is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Eijsden-Margraten, Netherlands.

Elegies During his time in service, Charles von Stade wrote several heart-felt letters to his wife, who was pregnant with their second child. Their daughter, Frederica von Stade, was born after he was killed in World War II, and grew to become an internationally renowned opera singer. Frederica von Stade premiered the work the following year with Thomas Hampson. 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."

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.