SKU: PR.114424240

ISBN 9781491137581. UPC: 680160691036.

THE BONES OF MR. FORTUNE (FREE AT LAST!) is an 11-minute concerto-like work for solo flute accompanied by symphonic winds and percussion – perfect to play with band or with orchestra, as well as with the composer’s own piano reduction. The work features lengthy cadenzas, and exhilarating dance-like sections with the ensemble. Hailstork describes the historical inspiration: Abused in life and death, an enslaved man (Mr. Fortune) was owned by a surgeon who preserved his skeleton to study anatomy. The bones remained with the doctor’s family for generations, and were given a proper burial making national news in 2013, 215 years after Mr. Fortune’s death.
Abused in life and death, an enslaved man known as Mr. Fortune was honored with an elaborate funeral more than 200 years after he died in Connecticut.Mr. Fortune was owned by Dr. Preserved Porter on a farm in Waterbury, Connecticut. When Fortune died in 1798, Porter, a bone surgeon, preserved his skeleton by having the bones boiled to study anatomy at a time when cadavers for medical study were disproportionately taken from slaves, servants and prisoners.One of Porter’s descendants gave the skeleton in 1933 to Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, where it was displayed from the 1940s until 1970. The descendant referred to the slave as “Larry” and his name was forgotten at the time.A study by forensic anthropologists at the Quinnipiac University School of Medicine concluded that Fortune was about 5 feet 5 inches tall and died at around 55 years old. He suffered a number of painful ailments, including a fracture in his left hand, a severe ankle sprain and lower back pain. “He was an individual who was in considerable distress,” a forensic professor, Richard Gonzalez said.I was taken by the bizarre story of Mr. Fortune and decided to use it as the stimulus for this work.

SKU: IS.FP7297EM

ISBN 9790365072972.

Peter Benoit, one of the great Flemish Romantic composers and often considered the origin of the Flemish School, was better known for his piano and choral music than for his wind music. Nevertheless, his one entry into the flute repertoire - the Concerto - is an exemplary piece of high Romanticism that combines symphonic writing with idiomatic, virtuosic flute technique. Composed as part of a ‘legendary triptych’ - the Stories and Ballads for Piano, the Symphonic Tale for Piano and orchestra, and the Flute Concerto - the three movements show the Concerto for the tone poem it is at heart. The first Preludium (Will-o’-the-Wisps) begins with a fiery orchestral fanfare, with an equally grand entrance by the soloist that introduces the first theme and launches the movement into the formidable back-and-forth between soloist and orchestral forces. The second, Melancholia, somewhat resembles the Molique Andante in its construction - a clear, wistful theme is embellished and carefully expanded into a full musical showpiece for flute. The Finale (Dance of the Wisps) then immediately launches into a display of the flutist’s agility, moving through various permutations of the theme before coming to an exuberant, grateful landing.