Thomas Morell

For the Swedish politician, see Thomas Morell (politician).

Thomas Morell (/mɔːˈrɛl/; 18 March 1703 – 19 February 1784) was an English librettist, classical scholar,^[1] and printer.^[2]

Thomas Morell, 1763 engraving by James Basire after William Hogarth.^[3]

Life

He was born in Eton, Berkshire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge (BA, 1726, MA, 1730 and DD, 1743).

He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and in 1768 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society as a "Rector of Buckland in Hertfordshire, Author of the Greek Thesaurus lately published, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Gentleman well skilled in Natural History and every branch of Polite Literature".^[4][5]

He was appointed Garrison Chaplain at Portsmouth barracks in 1775.

Morell wrote the longest and most detailed surviving account of collaboration with Handel.^[6]

He died in 1784 and was buried in Chiswick, London.

Librettos

He is best known as the librettist of the following of George Frideric Handel's oratorios:

• Judas Maccabaeus (1747).^[2]
• Joshua (1747).
• Alexander Balus (1748).^[2]
• Theodora (1750).^[2]
• The Choice of Hercules (1750). Uncertain if Morell was the librettist.
• Jephtha (1752).^[2]
• The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757). Morell was probably the librettist.