CHADBOURNE, Grace

American composer, pianist, singer and voice teacher, also known as Grace Wassall. Born Grace Runnion, she studied at the Minneapolis School of Music, Oratory and Dramatic Art and continued her musical training with Frank Bibb and Bernhard Ziehn. She also attended Oscar Seagle’s Summer Music Colony in Schroon Lake, New York.
Chadbourne was active as a pianist and accompanist, as a solo singer and as a member of a vocal quartet. Her compositions were primarily written for voice and piano and were published under both the names Grace Wassall and Grace Chadbourne. Her songs were performed by prominent singers of the period, including Johanna Gadski and David Bispham.
Her works include 10 Songs, on texts by Josephine Preston Peabody, the Shakespeare Song Cycle, The Source, The Doll’s Calendar, Feast of the Doll, Window Pane Songs, Windy Nights, and At Morn, at Noon, at Twilight Dim, a setting of a text by Edgar Allan Poe.