Introduction

Biography

Bassford first stu­died har­mo­ny and com­po­si­tion un­der Sam­uel Jack­son, who was for some time or­gan­ist at St. Bar­tho­lo­mew’s Church in New York.

While still young, Bass­ford tra­veled ex­tens­ive­ly with a con­cert troupe as a pi­an­ist. He ev­en­tu­al­ly set­tled in New York as a teach­er, and was liv­ing there as of 1885.

He wrote a num­ber of se­cu­lar songs, a mass in E♭, and some oth­er church piec­es. He al­so wrote a two-act op­era, Cas­sil­da, and was hired to com­plete the op­era Es­trel­la, which was left un­fin­ished by Vin­cent Wal­lace.