Introduction

Biography

Tali was the son of Tho­mas Llyfnwy Mor­gan and Gwenllian Be­ven Mor­gan, and hus­band of Ma­ry Jane Mor­gan.

He at­tend­ed schools in Maes­teg, and held an ap­pren­tice­ship with a print­er.

He set­tled with his fa­mi­ly in Scran­ton, Penn­syl­van­ia in 1876, for three years. Though ve­ry young, he pub­lished a Welsh-in­ter­est news­pa­per, The Cam­bro-Am­eri­can, while there.

In 1897, Mor­gan di­rect­ed choirs for a sum­mer con­cert at Ocean Grove, New Jer­sey. The fol­low­ing year, he be­came the re­sort’s mu­sic­al di­rect­or. As di­rect­or, he worked with vi­sit­ing artists such as En­ri­co Ca­ru­so, John Phil­ip Sou­sa, Lil­lian Nor­di­ca, and Lou­ise Ho­mer. He was re­spon­si­ble for a thou­sand-voice child­ren’s chor­us, and a 63-piece or­ches­tra.

Morgan ov­er­saw the pur­chase and in­stal­la­tion of the Ro­bert Hope-Jones or­gan in Ocean Grove’s Great Au­di­to­ri­um in 1908. He com­posed the Storm Fan­ta­sia for the organ, and the piece played re­gu­lar­ly in the Great Au­di­to­ri­um for ma­ny years.

Morgan con­tinued as mu­sic­al di­rect­or at Ocean Grove un­til 1915. He was al­so mu­sic di­rect­or at the Se­cond Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia. He con­duct­ed the New York Fes­tiv­al Chorus, and was pre­si­dent of the In­ter­na­tion­al Cor­res­pon­dence School of Mu­sic.

After Ocean Grove, Mo­rgan co-direct­ed the As­bury Park Sum­mer School in 1917. In 1919, he con­duct­ed a large girls’ chor­us at the Bap­tist Tem­ple in Brook­lyn, New York.

Morgan com­posed or ar­ranged ma­ny works for cho­ral per­form­ance.

Works

• Ocean Grove Songs, with James N. Fitz­ger­ald & Charles Yat­man (Ocean Grove, New Jer­sey: Ocean Grove As­so­cia­tion, 1900)
• Ocean Grove Chris­tian Songs, 1903