Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade says a proper farewell with Dead Man Walking
By EVERETT EVANS ARTS WRITER
Through a remarkable career spanning four decades, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade has been one of the music world's most revered talents. She is as beloved for her warmth and generosity offstage as she is renowned for her beautiful singing and indelible portrayals onstage.
Von Stade is making her farewell opera appearances in Houston Grand Opera's current Dead Man Walking. Portraying Mrs. De Rocher, the mother of condemned killer Joseph De Rocher, she is re-creating the role written for her and which she originated in the 2000 world premiere at San Francisco Opera.
Her unaffected humor and natural exuberance make an hourlong chat with "Flicka" (the nickname by which she is fondly known to all) a joy that whizzes by in seeming moments.
Q: After an illustrious career spanning four decades, how do you feel about saying farewell to performing?
A: It has been an easy decision, really. I've been singing over 40 years, and to ask any more of my career, which came as a surprise to me, would just be greedy. I've been around so long that half the people think I'm gone already. It kind of winds down over a period of years, saying goodbye to this role and that company. And with many of the roles I did, which were 15-year-old boys, it became a little obscene to keep going on with them! And really, you can't compete with kids who are 25 years younger. There comes a time when you feel like you're dressed up in your daughter's prom gown.
I came into this business knowing nothing. I would sit at the Met and listen to the great singers — Renata Tebaldi, Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo - and I would have my jaw down on my chest in amazement. What's terrific is that I'm leaving with the same feeling, because I'm so deeply impressed with Joyce DiDonato and Susan Graham and all the young artists coming up now. There is a musical excellence that is as deeply impressive as the memories I have, and that's kind of fun.
Q: I understand family is another factor.
A: I have an amazing husband, and I don't like being away from him. My two daughters and six beautiful grandchildren are the absolute loves of my life, and our priority is spending time with them. The grandparent part is such a bonus.
I also do a lot of volunteer work at a West Oakland (Calif.) parochial school, St. Martin de Porres, that's run by an amazing woman I met at a fundraiser for Catholic education, Sister Barbara Dawson. I don't teach singing, I just volunteer wherever I'm needed: taking kids out to plays and the opera dress rehearsals and to dinner. I've started a violin program in kindergarten; we have 20 little guys who play, and we want to extend that program into other grades. We also have a gospel choir. And we've signed 32 kids up for piano lessons. It's so important to get them interested at an early age, so they find they're good at something and get the acknowledgment. A kid carrying a violin case will not be carrying a gun.
Q: You've sung so many great roles and operas. Can you name a few favorites?
A: I would say Cherubino in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro is the one I did the most and the one in which I felt so completely at home. Plus, it's such an exquisite opera, and it was always an exquisite family to be part of. The million times I did it, I loved every production, and it was never the same because the cast of characters was different. Also, Massenet's Cendrillon and Rossini's Cenerentola. And I loved doing Melisande (Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande) - every little girl longs to have hair down to the ground!
I loved as much as anything the great artists I was able to work with, right down to when singing "La" was my whole role. Driving somewhere recently, I heard La Fanciulla del West on the radio, and I remembered doing a small role early on at the Met, when Renata Tebaldi was starring. I remember zipping her up; out of her little drawer would come these exquisite Italian shoes. To work every day with her, with Joan Sutherland, all of them - that was magic.
Q: You made your farewell to the Met with a 2000 production of The Merry Widowcreated especially for you. How did you feel about that milestone?
A: I decided, "This is it." I'd been asked to come back to do a couple of other things after. But I thought, "Waltzing out the door with Placido is as good as it's going to get, baby!" Don't push your luck.
Q: Dead Man Walking is a work especially close to your heart, is it not?
A: To leave with this opera means so much to me, because I was part of its premiere, and Jake and Terrence (composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally) created the role for me. I feel about great composers the way I feel about computers: I don't understand how this miracle happens. I'm amazed at Jake's works and am honored to have done so many. He first asked me to play one of the parents of the murder victims, but I asked if I could play the mother of the convict. By that point, I'd started doing volunteer work in low-income circumstances. There's an awful, heavy burden that a lot of people carry in this country. Playing Mrs. De Rocher lets me explore the fears that things you've done or not done have brought sorrow to your child. It's something every mother goes through in different ways, because you can't do everything right. She's not a stupid woman, but she adores her son, and she has to believe him. It's an opera that really tears you apart. Yet to leave with Sister Helen's words ringing in my ears - a woman of such wisdom and kindness - is a fantastic experience to carry with me.