Career
Personal life
He was raised in Saratoga Springs, New York, and trained as an architect. Polo
Military service
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. He is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Eijsden-Margraten, Netherlands.
Elegies
Their daughter, Frederica von Stade, was born after he was killed in World World War II, and grew to become an internationally renowned opera singer.
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
The resulting work, entitled Elegies, was a cycle of songs for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and chamber orchestra, which was performed at Carnegie Hall. 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.