Morel, Jean (Paul)
Morel, Jean (Paul)
Morel, Jean (Paul), French-American conductor and pedagogue; b. Abbeville, Jan. 10,1903; d. N.Y., April 14,1975. He was a student of Philipp (piano), N. Gallon (theory), Emmanuel (music history), Pierné (composition), and Hahn (lyric repertoire) in Paris. From 1921 to 1936 he taught at the American Cons, in Fontainebleau. He conducted the Orchestre National (1936–39) and the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris (1938). In 1939 he emigrated to the U.S. He taught at Brooklyn Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y. (1940–43). From 1949 to 1971 he was a teacher and conductor at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y., where he proved influential in producing a generation of musicians. On Nov. 12,1944, he made his debut at the N.Y.C. Opera conducting La Traviata. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. on Dec. 21, 1956, conducting La Périchole. He remained on the roster there until 1962, and then returned for the 1967–68 and 1969–71 seasons.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire