The renowned mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, who is currently living in the San Francisco area, reflected on a stellar career and her legacy to classical music in an interview on EpochTV’s “Bay Area Innovators” program.
“Music has been the greatest gift of my life—it’s given me a language to express what words cannot,” said von Stade, who is called Flicka by family and friends.
Born in New Jersey, von Stade grew up in Washington and New York, and although she did not come from a family of musicians, she loved to sing from a young age. While a teenager in Catholic school, she received formal training and has been singing ever since.
She sang in New Haven, Connecticut, productions and attended college at Mannes School of Music in New York, where she studied under Sebastian Engelberg. She called Engelberg one of the first angels in her life because it was on his advice that she auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera. She finished as a semi-finalist, and her professional career took off from there, leading to opportunities to perform all over the world.
Luck played a big part in her career, she said, because she so often found herself at the right place at the right time.
“I had one of the greatest managers of all time, Matthew Epstein, at the beginning of my career. He managed [mezzo soprano] Marilyn Horne and a lot of great names and singers,” the singer said. “And he knew just what I should do. I didn’t know he led me to roles that led to other roles, and that was lucky that I got together with him instead of another agent at the time.”
Von Stade lived in France for about six years and loved her experience there.
“I love the language, I love the people, I love the architecture, I love the countryside. I love the food, I love the decor. It just hit a chord in me,” she said.
Indeed, one of her signature pieces is a classic romantic French song by Edith Piaf, called La Vie en Rose, meaning “Life in Pink,” or life viewed through rose-colored glasses.
She recalled her high school days in France.
“Part of our homework every night was to read at least 25 pages of either Lamartine or Voltaire or Saint-Exupéry, and we were not allowed to use a dictionary. With the knowledge we had of the language, we had to sort of use our minds to imagine what it meant.”
Von Stade’s favorite opera role was that of Cherubino, a young page boy in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”
“He’s always thinking of love and passion, and sometimes he’s happy, sometimes he’s sad. He’s got all the energy, emotions, and psychic instability of a teenager,” she said. “So, I’ve played a number of roles of boys that age, and it’s fun to try and deal with that, especially as a woman.”
Her favorite performing venue is the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, she said, because she loves the architecture and the people who make a performance possible.
“For every singer that is on stage, every single one, there are 10 people behind them, getting them there. There’s the voice teacher, there’s the coach, there’s the pianist, there’s the conductor, there’s the… director, there is the costume lady, there is the wig lady, there is the makeup man, there are all the stagehands.”
Von Stade’s tributes include the title of Chevalier [Knight] of the Order of Arts and Letters, the French government’s highest civilian honor for the arts, two Grand Prix du Disque awards, and nine nominations for a Grammy. She recorded over 60 albums and performed numerous times at the White House, where she sang for four presidents, including Ronald Reagan.
“I can’t remember what I sang for President Reagan, but I adored Reagan, and they were so good to me and so kind, and I loved it. It was very, very special.”
She admitted to getting stage fright, especially five minutes before a performance. But once onstage, she describes the feeling as “elation with worry.”
“Singers, we all talk about having these judges that sit on our shoulder and are saying, oh, that’s flat, oh no, that’s sharp,” said von Stade. “So our job is to silence them and put all our focus on what we’re doing and what message we want to give, because the wonderful thing about song and opera is that we have stories to tell, and the more you concentrate on the story, the happier you will be. That’s our job. That’s what we are meant to give to the public.”
Her most challenging days, she said, are when she feels that her voice, like an instrument, is not up to par—fatigue, weather, and dryness can all affect it.
“Just like life that’s never going to be in perfect sync, [there’s] never going to be perfect coordination, you know, and most things aren’t perfect ... It’s that striving that makes us keep doing it and keep trying and keep learning and keep on progressing,” she said.
To protect her voice, she takes care of her body and stays healthy.
Von Stade, who will be 80 years old on June 1, is semi-retired and giving back to her community.
“Being good to other people brings goodness to you,” she says.
Von Stade’s advice for young people who want to succeed in their artistic endeavors is to not be too critical of themselves—something many artists go through. Instead, she suggests making a short list of things to achieve and working on them gradually every day.
“It’s hard to forgive [yourself], but it is so rewarding,” she said, adding that there are other alternatives.
“There are lots of people who don’t make it, who become maybe a fabulous teacher, maybe just a fabulous mom.”
