H. Frederick Davis; Conducted Mormon Choir, Men’s Chorus

H. Frederick Davis, revered conductor of two regional vocal institutions, the Southern California Mormon Choir and the Ellis-Orpheus Men’s Chorus, has died. He was 91.

Davis, who led the Mormon Choir in annual Los Angeles presentations of Handel’s “Messiah” for 28 years, died Tuesday at his North Hollywood home, according to a friend, Patricia Delgado.

Born in Tonga, Davis was educated at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and first settled in Salt Lake City, where he worked with Mormon singers. In addition to the honors later accorded him by California musical organizations was a state of Utah proclamation citing him as a “truly great pioneer in the field of music.”

Davis moved to Los Angeles at mid-century and helped found the Southern California Mormon Choir, which began December presentations of “Messiah” in 1953. The organization became the only religious founding member of the Music Center of Los Angeles County in the 1960s, and moved its sellout performances of “Messiah” to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion when it was constructed.

“Davis once again,” a Times reviewer wrote of the 1979 holiday concert, “welded his 94 singers into a remarkably flexible choral ensemble capable of coping with the most difficult Handelian challenges with poise, vitality and textural clarity.”

In 1952, Davis also took over the baton of the smaller but durable Ellis-Orpheus Men’s Chorus, which for more than a century sang concerts at such venues as the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and the Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills Estates.

That group evolved from the joining of the Charles Ellis Singing Club dating from 1888 and the Orpheus Club started by Joseph Dupuy in 1905. One reason the group survived beyond its centennial celebration, Lance Bowling, founder of the Society for the Preservation of Southern California Musical Heritage, told The Times in 1988, was “the excellent musical directors it appointed.”

Davis was the director of Ellis-Orpheus for some four decades. A Times music critic reviewing a Wilshire Ebell concert in 1952 credited the then-new conductor Davis with rejuvenation of the choir. Davis, the critic added, “brought with him a good background of professional experience well suited to raise the caliber of an amateur group.” Twenty years later, another Times reviewer credited Davis’ able direction in another successful Ellis-Orpheus concert at the Wilshire Ebell.

The conductor observed the choir gradually becoming more professional under his tutoring.

“The precision in the group is much better now than it used to be,” Davis told The Times in 1988. “When I first took over in 1952, the members weren’t interested in technical perfection. They just wanted to have fun.”

Davis, also a voice teacher and composer, earned commendations from the city, county and state and from the Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service Committee. He was active in the American Society of Composers and Conductors, the National Assn. of Teachers of Singing and the California Federation of Music Clubs.

Davis is survived by two daughters, two sisters and four grandsons.

Services are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. today at the Church of Latter-day Saints, 11022 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood.