John R. Gurney (June 13, 1902[1] — August 6, 1997[2]) was an American bass-baritone who had an active career as an opera, concert, vaudeville, and musical theatre performer from the 1920s through the 1940s.
He is best remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of Walter Damrosch's The Man Without a Country (1937, Colonel Morgan) and Douglas Moore's The Devil and Daniel Webster (1939, Jabez Stone).
[8] Gurney first performed in the United States with the touring American Opera Company in productions of Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Gounod's Faust in 1928.
Gurney made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera (Met) in New York City on May 13, 1936, as Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto with Carlo Morelli in the title role and Gennaro Papi conducting.
[8] Other roles he performed on the Met stage included Abimélech in Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah (1936, 1937), Ahmad in Henri Rabaud's Mârouf (1937), Antonio and Jarno in Thomas's Mignon (1938—1945), Cappadocian in Strauss's Salome (1938), Ferrando in Verdi's Il trovatore (1937—1943), King Heinrich in Wagner's Lohengrin (1938), Nikitich in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (1939), Pinellino in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (1938), the Ragpicker in Charpentier's Louise, Ramfis in Verdi's Aida (1936—1945), Schwarz in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1937—1945), and Tobias in Smetana's The Bartered Bride (1936–1942).
[13][14][8] In 1939 Gurney created the Faust-like role of Jabez Stone in the world premiere of Moore's The Devil and Daniel Webster at Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre on May 18, 1939.
[24] That same year Gurney performed the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto with the Charles Wagner Opera Company which began its national tour in November 1945 at the Birmingham Municipal Auditorium.
[25] In 1946 Gurney toured with Fortune Gallo's San Carlo Opera Company; performing in Rigoletto, Aida, La bohème, and Faust.