Furlanetto, Ferruccio
(b Pordenone, Sicily, 16 May 1949). Italian bass. He made his début in 1974 at Lonigo (Vicenza) as Sparafucile, then sang at various Italian opera houses. At Aix-en-Provence (1976–7) he sang Dr Grenvil and Cecil (Roberto Devereux). Having made his US début in 1978 at New Orleans as Zaccaria (Nabucco), he sang Alvise (La Gioconda) at San Francisco the following year. At Glyndebourne (1980–81) his roles were Melibeo (Haydn's La fedeltà premiata) and Rossini's Don Basilio. He has sung Phanuel (Hérodiade) and Ernesto (Parisina) at Rome; Oberto, Gounod's Méphistophélès and Don Giovanni at San Diego (1985–93); Mahomet II at the Paris Opéra (1985); Philip II, Mozart's Figaro, Leporello, Don Alfonso and Don Giovanni at Salzburg (1986–95); and Don Pasquale at La Scala (1994). He made his Covent Garden début as Leporello in 1988, and between 1990 and 1992 sang Leporello, Don Giovanni and Figaro at the Metropolitan. Furlanetto's other roles include Rossini's Assur, Mustafà and Don Magnifico, and Verdi's Ramfis and Fiesco. A lively actor with an incisive, dark-toned voice, he has recorded several of his Mozart roles, including Leporello with Karajan and Figaro and Don Alfonso with Levine.
ELIZABETH FORBES
Furman, James
(b Louisville, 12 Jan 1937; d Danbury, CT, 6 Sept 1989). American composer. His early piano lessons were provided by an aunt, who also exposed him to opera through the Metropolitan Opera's radio broadcasts. His first public recognition came in 1953 when he won the Louisville Philharmonic Society's Young Artist Competition and performed as a soloist with the Louisville SO. He went on to study the piano and singing at the University of Louisville (BME 1954). After serving in the US military, he resumed his musical studies in Boston. Upon the recommendation of Leon Kirchner, he entered Brandeis University (PhD 1964), where his composition teachers included Irving Fine. From 1965 to 1989 he lived in Danbury, Connecticut, where he taught at Western Connecticut State University. Among his many other activities, he founded the 20th-Century Arts Festival, which drew composers such as Copland, Cage, Luening and Lukas Foss to the campus during the late 1960s and 70s. He also participated in the early foundation of the Charles Ives Center for the Performing Arts.
One of the first black American composers to enter the academic mainstream, Furman was dedicated to the assimilation of American folk elements, especially gospel, blues and jazz, into European forms. His oratorio, I Have a Dream (1970), written in memory of Martin Luther King, is scored for vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, gospel choir and rock band. His instrumental writing features rhythmic and harmonic elements borrowed from the music of Bali, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and South America. The Grosse Fugue Revisited (1980) and the String Quartet (1986), works that combine the influences of Beethoven and Bartók with those of gospel, blues and jazz, are important examples of his late style.
WORKS opera -
It's 11:59 (2, E. Eliscu), Mez, Bar, SATB, pf, 1980
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Choral: Somebody's knockin' at your door (spiritual), S, chorus, 1956; Let us break bread together (spiritual), SATB, pf, 1957; There is a balm in Gilead, C, Bar, SATBB, pf, 1958, rev. C, Bar, SSATB, pf, 1981; Trampin', medium v, SATB, 1959; Four Little Foxes, SATB, pf, 1962; The Three-Fold Birth, children's chorus, SATB, org, 1962; Salve regina, SATB, pf, 1966; The Quiet Life (A. Pope), S, C, T, B, SATB, pf, 1968; This train (spiritual), SATB, 1969; I Have a Dream (orat, M.L. King), SATB, perc, pf, org, str, 1970, rev. 2 S, Bar, gospel chorus, SATB, tpt, perc, pf, elec org, gui, elec gui, str, 1971; Ave Maria, SSATTBB, pf, 1971; Come, thou long expected Jesus, SATB, pf, 1971; Go tell it on the mountain (spiritual), SATB, org/pf, 1971; Some glorious day (Furman), solo v, SATB, pf/elec org, 1971; Hold on (spiritual), SATB, opt. pf, opt. elec org, 1972; I keep journeyin' on (Furman), medium v, SATB, pf, opt. elec org, ?1972; Hey, Mr Jefferson (E. Eliscu); Hehlehlooyah: a Joyful Experience, SATB, 1976; Rise up shepherd and follow (spiritual), SATB, pf, 1977; A babe is born in Bethlehem, SSATB, 1978; Born in a manger, SATB, 1978; Bye, bye, Lully, Lullay, SATB, 1978; Glory to God in the highest (Bible), SATB, pf, 1978; Jupiter shall emerge (W. Whitman), SSAATTBB, pf, 1978; Rejoice, give thanks and sing, SATB, opt. org/pf, 1978; Responses for Church Service III, SATB, pf, 1978; The Lord is my shepherd, SATB, pf/org, 1985
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Songs: Songs of juvenilia, 1956: medium v, pf; SATB, pf; SATB, wind octet; Valse romantique, medium v, pf, 1976; I have a friend in Jesus (Furman), medium v, pf, 1978; 3 Songs, medium v, pf, 1983
| instrumental -
Str Qt, C, 1956; Variants, vn, vc, prep pf, 1963; Roulade, fl, 1975; Battle Scenes, suite, wind, amp hpd/pf, perc, 1976; The Declaration of Independence, nar, orch, 1976; Incantation, cl, str orch, 1976; Recit and Aria, hn, ww, 1976; Suite, cl, 1976; We Hold these Truths, cantilena, str orch; Sonata, vn, 1977; Chanson, cornet/tpt, str qnt, 1979; Canti, gui, opt. str orch, 1980; The Grosse Fugue Revisited, Tr, SSATTB, brass qnt, str qt, 1980; Hichijin, a sax, pf, 1980; Preludes, pf, 1980; Triumphal Fanfare, brass, perc, 1980; Movts, fl, 1982; Movts in Gospel, orch, 1985; Str Qt, 1986
| BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson2
SouthernB
D.M. Garrison: ‘King Dream Inspires Furman Oratorio’, News-Times [Danbury, CT] (28 July 1976)
F. Merkling: ‘Furman: the Man, the Music, the Mystique’, News-Times [Danbury, CT] (11 Dec 1979)
ERIC LEWIS
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