Signe Lund


Signe Lund-Skabo was a Norwegian composer and music teacher.

Biography

Signe Lund was born in Christiania, Norway. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Henrik Louis Bull Lund, and pianist Birgitte Theodora Carlsen, and was the sister of artist Henrik Lund. She studied with Erika Nilsson, Per Winge and Iver Holter at the Oslo Conservatory of Music . Later she studied in Berlin with Wilhelm Berger and also in Copenhagen and Paris. After completing her studies she worked as a teacher in Norway. She married Jørgen Skabo and later French architect George Robards.
Lund emigrated to the United States about 1900 and took a position teaching at Mayville State Normal School in Mayville, North Dakota. She became active in the North Dakota Socialist party and Nonpartisan League and circulated petitions for the release of anti-war activist Kate Richards O'Hare from state prison in Missouri, which led to her dismissal from the Mayville teaching position.
She later worked in New York City and Chicago as a performer and lecturer until 1920. Lund received the King's Medal of Merit for contributions to strengthening of the relationship between the United States and Norway, but lost her U.S. citizenship after World War II and returned to Norway. She died in Oslo.

Works

Lund composed a number of powerful works. Selected compositions include: