Grace Adele Freebey
A slim young white woman stands leaning one elbo on a piano, hand on hip; she is wearing a floor-length tiered light-colored gown
Grace Adele Freebey, photographed in 1914
BornJanuary 25, 1885
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
DiedMarch 30, 1943
Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)Musician, pianist, composer

Grace Adele Freebey (January 25, 1885 – March 30, 1943)[1] was an American pianist, music teacher, and composer, based in Los Angeles.

Early life and education

Freebey was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the daughter of Charles Peter Freebey and Joanna Estelle Walsh Freebey. Her mother was born in Canada.[2] In childhood, she moved to Los Angeles with her parents and siblings.[3][4] She studied piano with A. J. Stamm, Marie von Unschuld, Louis Bachner, and Ernest Hutcheson, and composition with conductor Henry Schoenefeld.[3][5]

Career

Freebey performed as a concert pianist,[6][7] and was accompanist for singers Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Ellen Beach Yaw, and cellists May Mukle and Alfred Wallenstein.[8] In 1914 she toured in vaudeville with Wallenstein, a child prodigy.[9] She was a member of the Schliewen Trio, with Wallenstein and violinist Richard Schliewen.[10] She was business manager and accompanist of the all-woman Sunny Southland Trio.[11]

Freebey taught piano classes at her own studio in Los Angeles,[12][13] and at the Wilson-Greene School of Music,[14] and as head of the piano department at Martha Washington Seminary in Washington, D.C.[3]

Tunes composed by Freebey, including "My Dearest Wish" (1911),[15] "O Golden Sun" (1912),[16] "North Wind", "Wind of the West", "May Day",[17] "Calling You", "Somebody's Coming", "Love's Resignation", "Just You and My Homeland" (1919),[18] "My Golden California" (1924)[19] and "Think of Me Sometimes" (1929), were performed by Schumann-Heink, Tsianina Redfeather,[18] Jeanne Jomelli,[20]Johanna Gadski, David Bispham, Constance Balfour, the People's Orchestra of Los Angeles,[21][22] and other popular singers and musical groups.[3]

Personal life

Freebey died at her home in Los Angeles in 1943, at the age of 58.[23][24] Her grave is in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery.

References

  1. ↑ Birth and death dates are on her gravestone in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, via FindaGrave.
  2. ↑ "Obituary for Joanna E. Freebey (Aged 100)". The Los Angeles Times. 1948-01-09. p. 27. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 McGroarty, John Steven (1921). Los Angeles from the Mountains to the Sea: With Selected Biography of Actors and Witnesses to the Period of Growth and Achievement. American Historical Society. pp. 477–478.
  4. ↑ "Veteran 'Times' Man Passes". The Los Angeles Times. 1937-02-15. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Gates, Willey Francis (1920). Who's who in Music in California. Pacific coast musician. pp. 58–60.
  6. ↑ "Music Notes". Los Angeles Graphic: 30. September 30, 1905 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ "Freebey Farewell Concert". Los Angeles Herald. 1905-10-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Majestic Theater". Music News. 6 (2): 17. September 4, 1914.
  9. ↑ "Undertake Vaudeville Tour to Help 'Cellist Prodigy Gain Education". Musical America. 20 (15): 28. August 15, 1914 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ "Schliewen Trio at the Friday Morning Club". Musical Courier. 72: 40. June 15, 1916.
  11. ↑ "Miss Freebey's Ambition". Los Angeles Graphic: 15. February 11, 1905 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ↑ "New Studio Opens". The Clubwoman. 16 (1): 32. October 1925 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ "Piano Pupils in Biltmore Recital". The Los Angeles Times. 1924-06-15. p. 67. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "New Music School for Washington, D.C." Musical America. 10 (19): 9. September 18, 1909 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1911). Catalog of Copyright Entries. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 779.
  16. ↑ Smith, Catherine Parsons (2007-10-16). Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular. University of California Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-520-25139-7.
  17. ↑ "Los Angeles Composers' Day Observed by the Friday Morning Club". Musical Courier. 72: 61. February 24, 1916.
  18. 1 2 "Sale of Songs Large". Los Angeles Evening Express. 1919-10-11. p. 39. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Her 'California' Song Finds Favor". The Los Angeles Times. 1923-11-04. p. 55. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Jomelli Concert Program is Out". Riverside Daily Press. November 6, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved June 18, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  21. ↑ Smith, Catherine Parsons (1992-10-01). "Something of Good for the Future: The People's Orchestra of Los Angeles". 19th-Century Music. 16 (2): 146–160. doi:10.2307/746263. ISSN 0148-2076. JSTOR 746263.
  22. ↑ "Two Local Composers on People's Program". Los Angeles Herald. April 2, 1913. p. 9. Retrieved June 18, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  23. ↑ "Obituary for Grace Adele Freebey (Aged 58)". The Los Angeles Times. 1943-04-02. p. 14. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Grace Adele Freebey, Noted Composer-Pianist, Succumbs". The Pasadena Post. 1943-04-01. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
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