Biography

François (d'Assise) Morel, composer, pianist, conductor (born 14 March 1926 in Montréal; died 14 January 2018), lauréat piano (AMQ) 1947, piano-teaching diploma (AMQ) 1950, deuxième prix piano (CMM) 1951, premier prix fugue (CMM) 1953. François Morel took private piano lessons 1935-43 before studying 1944-53 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (CMM). One of the first Quebec musicians to be educated exclusively at the CMM, he studied with Claude Champagne (composition); Jean Papineau-Couture (acoustics); Isabelle Delorme (harmony, counterpoint, fugue); and Arthur Letondal, Germaine Malépart, and Edmond Trudel (piano). It was there that his friend Gérald Gagnier taught him the elements of orchestral conducting.

Although Esquisse was Morel's first important work, it was Antiphonie, premiered 16 Oct 1953 under the direction of Leopold Stokowski at a concert of Canadian music at Carnegie Hall, that marked the start of his career as a composer. The previous year he had won a second prize for composition with String Quartet No. 1 on the occasion of the centenary of Laval University. In 1954-5 Morel joined forces with Serge Garant and Gilles Tremblay to promote European and Canadian contemporary music; at the CMM they presented two concerts that provoked sharp reactions. In them Morel himself gave the Canadian premieres of Messiaen's piano pieces Île de feu II and Neumes rythmiques. In 1956 the group reorganized and adopted the name 'Musique de notre temps.' Morel now was associated with Garant, Otto Joachim, and Jeanne Landry.