Glen Stewart Morley

Glen Stewart Morley (born September 17, 1912 in Vancouver , † June 13, 1996 ) was a Canadian conductor, composer and cellist.

Morley studied cello with Bruno Coletti in Oregon from 1927-28 and with Boris Hambourg and Marcus Adeney in Toronto from 1928-39 . He studied conducting in 1937 in Toronto with Reginald Stewart , in 1943 with Henry Wood and Ernest Reed in London and 1945–47 with Ettore Mazzoleni again in Toronto as well as composition with John Weinzweig (1945–47) and at the Eastman School of Music with Bernard Rogers ( 1947-49).

From 1932 to 1934 Morley was a cellist in the orchestra of the Empress of Japan liner , then in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra . Around 1937 he became conductor and choirmaster in César Borrés Toronto Opera Company , at the same time he worked as an arranger for the CBC radio and (1938–39) as conductor and music director of the Barrie Civic Band .

During the Second World War he worked as an arranger and conductor for the Canadian troop support ( Maple Leaf Matinee , Johnny Canuck's Revue ) and traveled with the Tin Hats through North Africa and Italy from 1943-44 . From 1947 to 1952 he was cellist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra , then until 1954 music director of Eastman Kodak's Motion Picture . After 1954 he lived as a freelance conductor and composer.

As a composer, Morley was first successful in the 1940s with the song Alone with my Dreams sung by Leslie Hutchinson . He then wrote and directed the music for the British film Playtime for Workers (1943), after which he wrote works such as Nocturne for piano (1946), Five Preludes for viola and piano (1946, 1951) and the orchestral works Christmas Overture (1950, 1960) ) and 'The Dog Watch' Overture on Nautical Themes (1977).

Morley lived in Ottawa from 1979 to 1989. The book The Glen Morley Collection of Historical Canadian Music (1984) emerged from his research on the early music of Canada . He also founded the concert agency Kingsmere Concert Entreprises , which continued as a music publisher until 1990. From 1989 he lived in British Columbia. Works like the Cavalcade of 19th-Century Canadian Dances , which was recorded in 1995 under the direction of Arthur Polson , were created here. Among music lovers, Morley was also known as a cartoonist and editor of the cartoon collection New Symphoniphobias (1980). He was married to the American composer Diane Morgan .

Possibility of confusion

The composer can easily be confused with the Canadian Glenn Morlay, also written by Morley, who composed film music from 1980 to 2016.

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• Glen Stewart Morley ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Canadian Music Center - Glen Morley