Frederick Mills

Mills, Frederick

Frederick (William) Mills. Organist, composer, choir conductor, fl 1867-77. He was a co-founder in 1868 and president 1871-2 of the AMQ. In 1869 with Antoine Dessane he revived the Quebec Harmonic Society. He moved to Ottawa ca 1872 as organist at Christ Church and in 1874 he was the conductor of the Ottawa Choral Union. While in Ottawa he composed the operetta The Maire of St Brieux (libretto by Frederick Augustus Dixon) for Lady Dufferin's private theatricals in March 1875 at Government House. An excerpt, 'Only a Daisy,' was published by Nordheimer. Several of Mills' waltzes and piano pieces were issued by Orme, and his light opera, The Witch of Fairy Dell, written after he had moved (ca 1877) to Philadelphia, was published by C.F. Summy in 1916.