The Bones of Mr. Fortune
Free at Last!
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SKU: PR.114424240
Free at Last!. Composed by Adolphus Hailstork. Set of Score and Parts. Duration 11 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #114-42424. Published by Theodore Presser Company (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.