Morel, (Joseph Raoul) François (d’Assise)

Morel, (Joseph Raoul) François (d’Assise), Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, and conductor; b. Montreal, March 14, 1926. After private instruction in piano (1935–43), he pursued his training at the Cons, de Musique de Québec à Montréal (1944–53) with Champagne (composition), Papineau-Couture (acoustics), Delorme (harmony, counterpoint, and fugue), and Letondal, Malépart, and Trudel (piano). He also received some training in conducting from Gagnier. From 1954 he was active in contemporary music circles. In 1956 he helped found the new music group Musique de notre temps. Between 1956 and 1979 he was active with the CBC Radio. After teaching at the Inst. Nazareth in Montreal (1959–61), he was director of the Académie de musique de Québec (1972–78). In 1979–80 he taught at the Univ. of Montreal. He was on the faculty of Laval Univ. in Montreal from 1979. Morel’s music parallels the aesthetic fashions of modern times, from Debussyan coloristic imagism to motorie neo-Classicism to the organized sound world of Varèse with a circumspect handling of serial procedures.

Works

orch.:Esquisse (1946); Antiphonie (1953); Boréal (1959); L’Étoile Noire (Tombeau de Borduas) (1962); Radiance(1970); Melisma for Piano and Orch. (1980); Die Stelle der Zwillinge (la position des jumeaux): Hommage à Paul Klee (1992); Et le Crépuscule...se trouva libre (1996); Métamorphoses (1998). wind orch.:Dyptique (1948–54); Le Mythe de la Roche Percée (1961); Requiem (1965–66); Neumes d’Espace et Reliefs (1967); Prismes-Anamorphoses (1967); L’Oiseau-Demain (1981–82); Aux Couleurs du Ciel (1985–87); De Subitement lointain (1989); Strophes, Séquences, Mouvements (1999). brass ensemble:Symphonies (1956); Aera (1986); Les Voix de l’ombre (1987); Lumières sculptées (1992). percussion ensemble:Rythmologue (1970); Lyre de Cristal (1985–86). chamber: 2 string quartets (1952, 1963); Wind Quintet (1962); Nuvattuk for Flute (1967); Iikkii (Froidure) for Chamber Group (1971); Me Duele Españ;a for Guitar (1974–77); Divergence for Violin and Guitar (1983); Taléa (couleur) for Wind Trio (1984); Paysage dépaysé, string quintet (1990); Figures, Segments, Ellipses for Clarinet and String Quartet (1990); Distance intime for Flute and Piano (1991); Stèle for Clarinet (1991); Ekleipsis for Marimba (1993); Les Ephémères for 4 Horns and Tuba (1995); Imaginaire for Guitar (1996–99). keyboard: piano:Deux études de Sonorité (1954). organ:Prière (1954); Alleluias (1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire