I'm not an expert in motor control. From what you describe it may be possible that the motor is self-cooling (meaning it has an internal fan driven by the rotation of the motor axle) but at low rpm the speed is too low for the fan to be effective. Therefore the motor gets warm/hot.
Just to get a feeling whether it is the motor or your control circuit that causes the problem: Try to drive the motor by a lower voltage AC source, e.g. an adjustable transformer set to 110 V or lower. Does the motor still become warm? Then you may have to cool it by an external fan.