The Miller's Wife: The Initial Inspiration

Originally inspired by a discovery composer Mike Christie made whilst researching his family tree, The Miller's Wife is set in the mid-19^th Century and has a self-penned plot and libretto. It was when Mike Christie came across this quote and photograph of one of his ancestors who was a miller (see photograph, far left), that he was inspired to write an opera.

“...[the miller] contrived to run not only three pairs of millstones, a bakehouse and a modest land holding, but also a wife and a mistress.”¹

¹ Farries, Kenneth G. (1985), Essex Windmills, Millers and Millwrights, 37