Signe Lund was born in
Christiania (now Oslo),
Norway. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Henrik Louis Bull Lund (1838–1891), and pianist Birgitte Theodora Carlsen (1843–1913), and was the sister of the artist
Henrik Lund (1879–1935) and the aunt of the sculptor
Knut Henrik Lund (1909-1991). She studied with
Erika Nilsson,
Per Winge and
Iver Holter at the
Oslo Conservatory of Music (
Musikkonservatoriet i Oslo). After encouragement and praise from
Edvard Grieg, 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 had already returned to Norway. She died in
Oslo. In 2024,
The Hollywood Reporter ran an article discussing the similarities of
Harold Arlen's Over the Rainbow to Lund's
Concert Etude Opus 38. ==Works==