[MysticCat]

Adopted from various sources available on Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia’s national web-page.

Sinfonia was born on October 6, 1898, at the New England Conservatory in Boston, when a group of thirteen young men under the guidance of Ossian Everett Mills met "to consider the social life of the young men students of that institution" and "to devise ways and means by which it might be improved." Mills, bursar of the Conservatory, sought to create an Order in which men with a shared love of music could develop the virtues of manhood in themselves and in their fellows. He was profoundly interested in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual development of the Conservatory students and recognized that a large proportion of them intended to put their musical knowledge into the church either as organists or singers. Mills felt that this class of people, as much as any, needed to be men of high ideals.

Nineteen days later, the new-born fraternity adopted the following philosophy of existence, which still guides the Fraternity: "The Object of this Fraternity shall be for the development of the best and truest fraternal spirit; the mutual welfare and brotherhood of musical students; the advancement of music in America and a loyalty to the Alma Mater."