Peter Elkus

It will be at least a month before a potential landmark ruling will decide whether fame is a property that can be divided in a divorce case. Arguments were heard in the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court last week as Peter Elkus, 50, sought to overturn a lower court ruling that held he was not entitled to a portion of earnings by his former wife, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, 45.

It will be at least a month before a potential landmark ruling will decide whether fame is a property that can be divided in a divorce case. Arguments were heard in the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court last week as Peter Elkus, 50, sought to overturn a lower court ruling that held he was not entitled to a portion of earnings by his former wife, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, 45.

Frederica von Stade's celebrity and career as an opera singer are not marital assets that can be measured and shared with her estranged husband, a judge has ruled. Manhattan Judge Walter Schackman rejected the claim of Von Stade's husband of 18 years, Peter Elkus, who said he sacrificed his career to nurture hers as her voice coach, manager and adviser.

Sour Note for Von Stade: Opera singer Frederica von Stade's voice is valuable "marital property" that must be shared with her former husband, Peter Elkus, a New York state appeals court has ruled. The two were divorced last fall. Elkus argued that he had been her voice coach for 10 of the 17 years they were married and had sacrificed his own singing career to devote himself to her. The amount to which Elkus is entitled will be determined at trial.

Arias of Divorce: Is fame a piece of property that can be divided in a divorce case? The ex-husband of mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade thinks so, and a possible precedent-setting property settlement will be heard on appeal today in the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court.

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade has entered a new phase of life, moving, as she put it recently, "from stage to stage." She left it open, however, as to whether she was referring to concert stages or to the stages of life. But the more she spoke during a car phone interview while on the road near her home in Alameda, her voice crackling from static, the more it seemed she was talking about life. "The cruelty of empty-nest syndrome!"

Backstage in the chill of a cavernous concert hall here, opera star Frederica von Stade suddenly burst into song. Alone in her dressing room this Valentine's Day night, she was singing--not for anyone but herself.