François Morel
François Morel was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996. He has had his works premiered by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.Life and career
Born in Montreal, Morel studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal from 1944–1953. His teachers included Claude Champagne, Isabelle Delorme, Gérald Gagnier, Arthur Letondal, Germaine Malépart, Jean Papineau-Couture, and Edmond Trudel. He was a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers in 1951. From 1956–1979 he worked for CBC Radio as a composer of incidental music, music consultant, and researcher.
Morel taught music analysis and composition at the Institut Nazareth from 1959–1961. In 1972 he was appointed director of the Académie de musique du Québec, a position he held through 1978. From 1976–1979 he taught at the Bourgchemin Cegep in Drummondville and from 1979–1997 he taught at Université Laval. He also served on the faculty of the Université de Montréal in 1979–1980. His work for guitar Me duele España, played by and written for guitarist Michael Laucke, was recorded on the Radio Canada International label and won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Canadian Music Council in 1979 for the best Canadian recording.
He is among the first Quebec musicians to be trained exclusively at the CMM. From 1944 to 1953 he studied composition with Claude Champagne, acoustics with Jean Papineau-Couture, harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Isabelle Delorme and piano with :fr:Arthur Letondal|Arthur Letondal, Germaine Malépart and :fr:Edmond Trudel|Edmond Trudel.Compositions
- Esquisse, op.1
- Chants japonais - for voice and piano
- Quatuor à cordes no.1
- Antiphonie - for orchestra
- Prière - for organ
- Cassation - for septet à vent
- Deux études de sonorités - for piano
- Les rivages perdus - for voice and piano
- Dyptique - for wind instruments and percussion
- Symphonie pour cuivres
- Rituel de l'espace - for orchestra
- Boréal - for orchestra
- L'étoile noire - tombeau de Borduas, for orchestra
- Le mythe de la roche percée
- Quintette pour cuivre
- Quatuor à cordes no.2
- Alleluia, for organ
- Requiem for wind instruments
- Nuvattuq, recorded around 1975 on album "Solo" on Radio Canada International, flute by Jean C. Morin.
- Neumes d'espaces et reliefs
- Prismes anamorphoses
- Étude en forme de toccate
- Départs, recorded on RCI 367, guitare Michael Laucke
- Radiance
- Rythmologue, pour 8 percussions
- Iikkii, froidure, guitar and chamber orchestra\, recorded on RCI 367, Michael Laucke, guitar
- Me duele España - for guitar
- Melisma, pièce concertante for piano and orchestra
- L'oiseau-demain, flute ensemble
- Aux marges du silence
- Divergences, violin and guitar, recorded on RCI 583, Michael Laucke, guitar
- Taléa, wind trio
- Fulgurance no.1, for small ensemble
- Aerea, brass and percussion
- Lyre de cristal, hommage to Varèse, for percussion instruments
- Les voix de l'ombre, for brass
- Aux couleurs du ciel, for orchestra
- Duolet, for two flutes
- De subitement Lointain, for wind ensemble
- Fulgurance no.2, for small ensemble
- Paysage dépaysé, for string quintet
- Figures-Segments-Ellipses, clarinet and string quartet
- Distance intime, for flute and piano
- Stèle for clarinet
- Die stelle der Zwillinge, hommage to Paul Klee
- Lumières sculptées, pour cuivres et percussions
- Eklepsis, for marimba
- Chants d'espace
- Les Éphémères, for 4 horns and tuba
- Et le crépuscule.... se trouva libre
- Strophes, séquences, mouvements, for 12 saxophones
- Imaginaire, 3 pieces for guitar
- Les récits du rêve, for 2 pianos-left hand and orchestra
- Miroir, solo bassoon
- Rupture, for orchestra
- Calligraphies sonores, ensemble à vent et percussions
- Il faut inventer la terre
- Rencontre Aria, tuba and piano
- Passage à l'aube, for orchestra
- Aulos, solo oboe
- Signal, solo flute
- Phases, for horn and piano
- Parcours for4 percussions
- Trinomes, piano solo
- Enjeux, piano solo
- Visions, piano solo
- La vie
Awards
- 1947 : Lauréat de piano, from Académie de musique du Québec
- 1953 : Premier Prix de fugue, from Conservatoire de musique de Montréal
- 1979 : Grand Prix du Disque from the Canadian Music Council in 1979 for the best Canadian recording
- 1994 : Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec
- 1996 : Denise-Pelletier Award one of the Prix du Québec
- 2003 : Prix Serge-Garant, par la Fondation Émile-Nelligan
- 2013 : Prix Hommage, Prix Opus