fbpx
Wikipedia

Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime",[1] he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces,[2] one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag.[3] Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons.

Scott Joplin
Joplin in 1903
BornNovember 24, 1868
Texarkana, Texas, U.S., or Linden, Texas, U.S. (disputed)
DiedApril 1, 1917(1917-04-01) (aged 48)
Burial placeSt. Michael's Cemetery
EducationGeorge R. Smith College
Occupations
  • Composer
  • pianist
  • music teacher
Years active1895–1917
Spouses
Belle Jones
(m. 1899; div. 1903)
Freddie Alexander
(m. 1904; died 1904)
Lottie Stokes
(m. 1909)
AwardsPulitzer Prize (posthumous, 1976)
Signature

Joplin grew up in a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Arkansas, developing his own musical knowledge with the help of local teachers. While in Texarkana, he formed a vocal quartet and taught mandolin and guitar. During the late 1880s, he left his job as a railroad laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician. He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which helped make ragtime a national craze by 1897.

Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher. There he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden, and Brun Campbell. He began publishing music in 1895, and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame. This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime. It also brought Joplin a steady income for life. In 1901, Joplin moved to St. Louis, where he continued to compose, publish, and regularly perform in the community. In 1903, the score to his first opera, A Guest of Honor, was confiscated—along with his belongings—for non-payment of bills (likely as a result of being robbed). It is now considered lost.[4]

In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera. He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the musical form that had made him famous but without much monetary success. His second opera, Treemonisha, was never fully staged during his life. In 1916, Joplin descended into dementia as a result of neurosyphilis. In mid-January 1917, he was admitted to a mental asylum and died there less than three months later at the age of 48. Joplin's death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format; over the next several years, it evolved with other styles into stride, jazz, and, eventually, swing.

Joplin's music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin.[5] This was followed by the Academy Award–winning 1973 film The Sting, which featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably "The Entertainer", a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch that received wide airplay. Treemonisha was finally produced in full, to wide acclaim, in 1972. In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Early life edit

Joplin was the second of six children[6] born to Giles Joplin, a former slave from North Carolina, and Florence Givens, a freeborn African-American woman from Kentucky.[7][8][9] His birth date was accepted by early biographers Rudi Blesh and James Haskins as November 24, 1868,[10][11] although later biographer Edward A. Berlin showed this was "almost certainly incorrect".[12] There is disagreement over his exact place of birth in Texas, with Blesh identifying Texarkana,[11] and Berlin showing the earliest record of Joplin being the June 1870 census which locates him in Linden, as a two-year-old.[13][14]

By 1880, the Joplins moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, where Giles worked as a railroad laborer and Florence as a cleaner. As Joplin's father had played the violin for plantation parties in North Carolina and his mother sang and played the banjo,[6] Joplin was given a rudimentary musical education by his family, and from the age of seven he was allowed to play the piano while his mother cleaned.[15]

At some point in the early 1880s, Giles Joplin left the family for another woman and Florence struggled to support her children through domestic work. Biographer Susan Curtis speculates that Florence's support of her son's musical education was a critical factor behind her separation from Giles, who wanted the boy to pursue practical employment that would supplement the family income.[16]

At the age of 16, Joplin performed in a vocal quartet with three other boys in and around Texarkana, also playing piano. He also taught guitar and mandolin.[17] According to a family friend, the young Joplin was serious and ambitious studying music and playing the piano after school. While a few local teachers aided him, he received most of his musical education from Julius Weiss, a German-born American Jewish music professor who had immigrated to Texas in the late 1860s and was employed as music tutor by a prominent local business family.[18] Weiss, as described by San Diego Jewish World writer Eric George Tauber, "was no stranger to [receiving] race hatred ... As a Jew in Germany, he was often slapped and called a 'Christ-killer.'"[19] Weiss had studied music at a German university and was listed in town records as a professor of music. Impressed by Joplin's talent, and realizing the Joplin family's dire straits, Weiss taught him free of charge. While tutoring Joplin from the ages of 11 to 16, Weiss introduced him to folk and classical music, including opera. Weiss helped Joplin appreciate music as an "art as well as an entertainment"[17] and helped Florence acquire a used piano. According to Joplin's widow Lottie, Joplin never forgot Weiss. In his later years, after achieving fame as a composer, Joplin sent his former teacher "gifts of money when he was old and ill" until Weiss died.[18]

Life in the Southern states and Chicago edit

In the late 1880s, having performed at various local events as a teenager, Joplin gave up his job as a railroad laborer and left Texarkana to become a traveling musician.[20] Little is known about his movements at this time, although he is recorded in Texarkana in July 1891 as a member of the Texarkana Minstrels, who were raising money for a monument to Jefferson Davis, president of the former Confederate States of America.[21] However, Joplin soon learned that there were few opportunities for black pianists. Churches and brothels were among the few options for steady work. Joplin played pre-ragtime "jig-piano" in various red-light districts throughout the mid-South, and some claim he was in Sedalia and St. Louis, Missouri, during this time.[22][23]

In 1893, while in Chicago for the World's Fair, Joplin formed a band in which he played cornet and also arranged the band's music. Although the World's Fair minimized the involvement of African-Americans, black performers still came to the saloons, cafés and brothels that lined the fair. The exposition was attended by 27 million visitors and had a profound effect on many areas of American cultural life, including ragtime. Although specific information is sparse, numerous sources have credited the Chicago World's Fair with spreading the popularity of ragtime.[24] Joplin found that his music, as well as that of other black performers, was popular with visitors.[25] By 1897, ragtime had become a national craze in U.S. cities and was described by the St. Louis Dispatch as "a veritable call of the wild, which mightily stirred the pulses of city bred people".[26]

Life in Missouri edit

In 1894, Joplin arrived in Sedalia, Missouri. At first, Joplin stayed with the family of Arthur Marshall. At the time, Marshall was a 13-year-old boy, but he later became one of Joplin's students and a ragtime composer in his own right.[31] There is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence in the town until 1904, as Joplin was making a living as a touring musician.

 
Front cover of the third edition of the "Maple Leaf Rag" sheet music with Joplin portrait

There is little precise evidence known about Joplin's activities at this time, although he performed as a solo musician at dances and at the major black clubs in Sedalia, the Black 400 Club and the Maple Leaf Club. He performed in the Queen City Cornet Band and his own six-piece dance orchestra. A tour with his own singing group, the Texas Medley Quartet, gave him his first opportunity to publish his own compositions, and it is known that he went to Syracuse, New York, and Texas. Two businessmen from New York published Joplin's first two works, the songs "Please Say You Will" and "A Picture of Her Face", in 1895.[32] Joplin's visit to Temple, Texas, enabled him to have three pieces published there in 1896, including the "Great Crush Collision March", which commemorated a planned train crash on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad on September 15 that he may have witnessed. The march was described by one of Joplin's biographers as a "special ... early essay in ragtime."[33] While in Sedalia, Joplin taught piano to students who included future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Brun Campbell and Scott Hayden.[34] Joplin enrolled at the George R. Smith College, where he apparently studied "advanced harmony and composition." The college's records were destroyed in a fire in 1925,[35] and biographer Edward A. Berlin notes that it was unlikely that a small college for African-Americans would be able to provide such a course.[3][36]

Although there were hundreds of rags in print by the time the "Maple Leaf Rag" was published, Joplin was not far behind. He completed his first published rag, "Original Rags" in 1897, the same year that the first ragtime work appeared in print, the "Mississippi Rag" by William Krell. The "Maple Leaf Rag" was likely to have been known in Sedalia before its publication in 1899; Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in around 1898.[37] The exact circumstances that led to the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag" are unknown and a number of versions of the event contradict each other. After several unsuccessful approaches to publishers, Joplin signed a contract on August 10, 1899, with John Stillwell Stark, a retailer of musical instruments who became his most important publisher. The contract stipulated that Joplin would receive a 1% royalty on all sales of the rag, with a minimum sales price of 25 cents.[38] With the inscription "To the Maple Leaf Club" prominently visible along the top of at least some editions, it is likely that the rag was named after the Maple Leaf Club, although there is no direct evidence to prove the link, and there were many other possible sources for the name in and around Sedalia at the time.[39]

 
Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, Missouri
 
Cover of Scott Joplin's 1905 work "Bethena"; the woman on the cover may be Joplin's second wife, Freddie Alexander.[12]

There have been many claims about the sales of the "Maple Leaf Rag", one being that Joplin was the first musician to sell 1 million copies of a piece of instrumental music.[3] Joplin's first biographer, Rudi Blesh, wrote that during its first six months the piece sold 75,000 copies and became "the first great instrumental sheet music hit in America."[40] However, research by Joplin's later biographer Edward A. Berlin demonstrated that this was not the case; the initial print-run of 400 took one year to sell, and, under the terms of Joplin's contract with a 1% royalty, would have given Joplin an income of $4 (or approximately $141 at current prices). Later sales were steady and would have given Joplin an income that would have covered his expenses. In 1909, estimated sales would have given him an income of $600 annually (approximately $16,968 in current prices).[38]

The "Maple Leaf Rag" did serve as a model for the hundreds of rags to come from future composers, especially in the development of classic ragtime.[40] After the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin was soon being described as "King of rag time writers", not least by himself[41] on the covers of his own work, such as "The Easy Winners" and "Elite Syncopations".

During his time in St. Louis, Joplin collaborated with Scott Hayden in the composition of four rags.[42] It was in St. Louis that Joplin produced some of his best-known works, including "The Entertainer", "March Majestic", and the short theatrical work "The Ragtime Dance". In 1901, Joplin married his first wife Belle Jones (1875–1903) a sister-in-law of Scott Hayden. By 1903, the Joplins had moved to a 13-room house, renting some of the rooms to lodgers, who included pianist-composers Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. Joplin did not work as a pianist in the saloons in St Louis, which was usually a major source of income for musicians, as he was "probably outclassed by the competition" and was, according to Stark's son, "a mediocre pianist". Biographer Berlin speculated that by 1903 Joplin was already showing early signs of syphilis, which reduced his coordination and "pianistic skills".[43][13] In 1903, Joplin's only child—a daughter—died. Joplin and his first wife drifted apart.

In June 1904, Joplin married Freddie Alexander of Little Rock, Arkansas, the young woman to whom he had dedicated "The Chrysanthemum". She died on September 10, 1904, of complications resulting from a cold, ten weeks after their wedding.[44] "Bethena", Joplin's first work copyrighted after Freddie's death, was described by one biographer as "an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of ragtime waltzes".[45]

During this time, Joplin created an opera company of 30 people and produced his first opera A Guest of Honor for a national tour. It is not certain how many productions were staged, or even whether this was an all-black show or a racially mixed production. During the tour, either in Springfield, Illinois, or Pittsburg, Kansas, someone associated with the company stole the box office receipts. Joplin could not meet the company's payroll or pay for its lodgings at a theatrical boarding house. It is believed that the score for A Guest of Honor was lost and perhaps destroyed because of non-payment of the company's boarding house bill.[46]

Later years and death edit

 
Front cover of the "Wall Street Rag" (1909) sheet music

In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City, which he believed was the best place to find a producer for a new opera. After his move to New York, Joplin met Lottie Stokes, whom he married in 1909.[42] In 1911, unable to find a publisher, Joplin undertook the financial burden of publishing Treemonisha himself in piano-vocal format. In 1915, as a last-ditch effort to see it performed, he invited a small audience to hear it at a rehearsal hall in Harlem. Poorly staged and with only Joplin on piano accompaniment, it was "a miserable failure" to a public not ready for "crude" black musical forms—so different from the European grand opera of that time.[47] The audience, including potential backers, was indifferent and walked out.[48] Scott writes that "after a disastrous single performance...Joplin suffered a breakdown. He was bankrupt, discouraged, and worn out." He concludes that few American artists of his generation faced such obstacles: "Treemonisha went unnoticed and unreviewed, largely because Joplin had abandoned commercial music in favor of art music, a field closed to African Americans."[34] It was not until the 1970s that the opera received a full theatrical staging.

In 1914, Joplin and Lottie self-published his "Magnetic Rag" as the Scott Joplin Music Company, which he had formed the previous December.[49] Biographer Vera Brodsky Lawrence speculates that Joplin was aware of his advancing deterioration due to syphilis and was "consciously racing against time." In her sleeve notes on the 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of Treemonisha, she notes that he "plunged feverishly into the task of orchestrating his opera, day and night, with his friend Sam Patterson standing by to copy out the parts, page by page, as each page of the full score was completed."[50]

 
Scott Joplin Memorial

By 1916, Joplin had developed tertiary syphilis,[51][52] but more specifically it likely was neurosyphilis. On February 2, 1917, he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital, a mental institution.[53] The “King of Ragtime” died there on April 1 of syphilitic dementia at the age of 48[47][54] and was buried in a pauper's grave that remained unmarked for 57 years. His grave, located at St. Michael's Cemetery in East Elmhurst was finally given a marker in 1974, the year The Sting, which showcased his music, won Best Picture at the Oscars.[55]

Works edit

The combination of classical music, the musical atmosphere present around Texarkana (including work songs, gospel hymns, spirituals and dance music), and Joplin's natural ability have been cited as contributing to the invention of ragtime: a new style that blended African-American musical styles with European forms and melodies and first became celebrated in the 1890s .[16]

When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs "cranked out by the tune-smiths of Tin Pan Alley."[56] As a composer, Joplin refined ragtime, elevating it above the low and unrefined form played by the "wandering honky-tonk pianists ... playing mere dance music" of popular imagination.[57] This new art form, the classic rag, combined Afro-American folk music's syncopation and 19th-century European romanticism, with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos.[42][58] In the words of one critic: "Ragtime was basically...an Afro-American version of the polka, or its analog, the Sousa-style march."[59] With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them—without improvisation.[34] Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music in miniature form in order to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work that opera historian Elise Kirk described as "more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."[22]

Some speculate that Joplin's achievements were influenced by his classically trained German music teacher Julius Weiss, who may have brought a polka rhythmic sensibility from the old country to the 11-year old Joplin.[60] As Curtis put it, "The educated German could open up the door to a world of learning and music of which young Joplin was largely unaware."[56]

Joplin's first and most significant hit, the "Maple Leaf Rag", was described as the archetype of the classic rag and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years after its initial publication, thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony,[40] though with the exception of Joseph Lamb and James Scott, they generally failed to enlarge upon it.[61] Joplin used the Maple Leaf Rag as inspiration for subsequent works, such as The Cascades in 1903, Leola in 1905, Gladiolus Rag in 1907, and Sugar Cane Rag in 1908. While he used similar harmonic and melodic patterns,[62] the later compositions were not simple copies but were distinctly new works, which used dissonance, chromatic sections and the blues third.[63]

Treemonisha edit

 
Treemonisha (1911)

The opera's setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin's childhood town Texarkana in September 1884. The plot centers on an 18-year-old woman Treemonisha who is taught to read by a white woman and then leads her community against the influence of conjurers who prey on ignorance and superstition. Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her. The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader.[64][65][66]

Joplin wrote both the score and the libretto for the opera, which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias, ensembles and choruses. In addition, the themes of superstition and mysticism evident in Treemonisha are common in the operatic tradition, and certain aspects of the plot echo devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner (of which Joplin was aware). A sacred tree that Treemonisha sits beneath recalls the tree that Siegmund takes his enchanted sword from in Die Walküre, and the retelling of the heroine's origins echos aspects of the opera Siegfried. In addition, African-American folk tales also influence the story—the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch.[67]

Treemonisha is not a ragtime opera—because Joplin employed the styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly, using them to convey "racial character" and to celebrate the music of his childhood at the end of the 19th century. The opera has been seen as a valuable record of rural black music from late 19th century, re-created by a "skilled and sensitive participant."[68]

Berlin speculates about parallels between the plot and Joplin's own life. He notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw a connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance and a similar desire in the composer. In addition, it has been speculated that Treemonisha represents Freddie, Joplin's second wife, because the date of the opera's setting was likely to have been the month of her birth.[69]

At the time of the opera's publication in 1911, the American Musician and Art Journal praised it as "an entirely new form of operatic art".[70] Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history, with its heroine "a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes, notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement."[71] Curtis's conclusion is similar: "In the end, Treemonisha offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race."[66] Berlin describes it as a "fine opera, certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States," but later states that Joplin's own libretto showed the composer "was not a competent dramatist," with the book not up to the quality of the music.[72]

As Rick Benjamin, the founder and director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, found out, Joplin succeeded in performing Treemonisha for paying audiences in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1913.[73]

Performance skills edit

Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well.[42] However, the son of publisher John Stark stated that Joplin was a rather mediocre pianist and that he composed on paper, rather than at the piano. Artie Matthews recalled the "delight" the St. Louis players took in outplaying Joplin.[75]

While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved on seven piano rolls for use in mechanical player pianos. All seven were made in 1916. Of these, the six released under the Connorized label show evidence of editing to correct the performance to strict rhythm and add embellishments,[76] probably by the staff musicians at Connorized.[77] Berlin theorizes that by the time Joplin reached St. Louis, he may have experienced discoordination of the fingers, tremors, and an inability to speak clearly—all symptoms of the syphilis that killed him in 1917.[78] Biographer Blesh described the second roll recording of "Maple Leaf Rag" on the UniRecord label from June 1916 as "shocking...disorganized and completely distressing to hear."[79] While there is disagreement among piano-roll experts as to how much of this is due to the relatively primitive recording and production techniques of the time,[80][81][82][83] Berlin notes that the "Maple Leaf Rag" roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin's playing at the time. The roll, however, may not reflect his abilities earlier in life.[76]

A stronger performance, by Joplin, is held in the University of California at Santa Barbara's cylinder archive. It was apparently found in a mislabeled box of wax cylinders sold on eBay, long after Blesh examined the June 1916 recording, and is likely to date from earlier in Joplin's life, in April 1916.[84] Although that recording is severely damaged, a cleaned-up MIDI version reveals a considerably stronger performance.[85]

Legacy edit

 
A commemorative plaque to Joplin in Texas

Joplin and his fellow ragtime composers rejuvenated American popular music, fostering an appreciation for African-American music among European-Americans by creating exhilarating and liberating dance tunes. "Its syncopation and rhythmic drive gave it a vitality and freshness attractive to young urban audiences indifferent to Victorian proprieties...Joplin's ragtime expressed the intensity and energy of a modern urban America."[34]

Joshua Rifkin, a leading Joplin recording artist, wrote, "A pervasive sense of lyricism infuses his work, and even at his most high-spirited, he cannot repress a hint of melancholy or adversity...He had little in common with the fast and flashy school of ragtime that grew up after him."[86] Joplin historian Bill Ryerson adds that "In the hands of authentic practitioners like Joplin, ragtime was a disciplined form capable of astonishing variety and subtlety...Joplin did for the rag what Chopin did for the mazurka. His style ranged from tones of torment to stunning serenades that incorporated the bolero and the tango."[48] Biographer Susan Curtis wrote that Joplin's music had helped to "revolutionise American music and culture" by removing Victorian restraint.[87]

Composer and actor Max Morath found it striking that the vast majority of Joplin's work did not enjoy the popularity of the "Maple Leaf Rag", because while the compositions were of increasing lyrical beauty and delicate syncopation, they remained obscure and unheralded during his life.[61] Joplin apparently realized that his music was ahead of its time. Music historian Ian Whitcomb mentions that Joplin "opined that 'Maple Leaf Rag' would make him 'King of Ragtime Composers' but he also knew that he would not be a pop hero in his own lifetime. 'When I'm dead twenty-five years, people are going to recognize me,' he told a friend." Just over thirty years later he was recognized, and later historian Rudi Blesh wrote a large book about ragtime, which he dedicated to the memory of Joplin.[57]

Although he was penniless and disappointed at the end of his life, Joplin set the standard for ragtime compositions and played a key role in the development of ragtime music. And as a pioneer composer and performer, he helped pave the way for young black artists to reach American audiences of all races. After his death, jazz historian Floyd Levin noted: "Those few who realized his greatness bowed their heads in sorrow. This was the passing of the king of all ragtime writers, the man who gave America a genuine native music."[88]

Museum edit

The home Joplin rented in St. Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community. In 1983, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources made it the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to African American heritage. At first it focused entirely on Joplin and ragtime music, ignoring the urban milieu which shaped his musical compositions. A newer heritage project has expanded coverage to include the more complex social history of black urban migration and the transformation of a multi-ethnic neighborhood to the contemporary community. Part of this diverse narrative now includes coverage of uncomfortable topics of racial oppression, poverty, sanitation, prostitution, and sexually transmitted diseases.[89]

Revival edit

 
Joplin's star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame

After his death in 1917, Joplin's music and ragtime in general waned in popularity as new forms of musical styles, such as jazz and novelty piano, emerged. Even so, jazz bands and recording artists such as Tommy Dorsey in 1936, Jelly Roll Morton in 1939 and J. Russel Robinson in 1947 released recordings of Joplin compositions. "Maple Leaf Rag" was the Joplin piece found most often on 78 rpm records.[27]

In the 1960s, a small-scale reawakening of interest in classical ragtime was underway among some American music scholars, such as Trebor Tichenor, William Bolcom, William Albright, and Rudi Blesh. Audiophile Records released a two-record set, The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, The Greatest of Ragtime Composers, performed by Knocky Parker, in 1970.[90]

In 1968, Bolcom and Albright interested Joshua Rifkin, a young musicologist, in the body of Joplin's work. Together, they hosted an occasional ragtime-and-early-jazz evening on WBAI radio.[91] In November 1970, Rifkin released a recording called Scott Joplin: Piano Rags[92] on the classical label Nonesuch. It sold 100,000 copies in its first year and eventually became Nonesuch's first million-selling record.[93] The Billboard Best-Selling Classical LPs chart for September 28, 1974, has the record at number 5, with the follow-up "Volume 2" at number 4, and a combined set of both volumes at number 3. Separately, both volumes had been on the chart for 64 weeks. In the top seven spots on that chart, six of the entries were recordings of Joplin's work, three of which were Rifkin's.[94] Record stores found themselves for the first time putting ragtime in the classical music section. The album was nominated in 1971 for two Grammy Award categories: Best Album Notes and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra). Rifkin was also under consideration for a third Grammy for a recording not related to Joplin, but at the ceremony on March 14, 1972, Rifkin did not win in any category.[95] He did a tour in 1974, which included appearances on BBC Television and a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall.[96] In 1979, Alan Rich wrote in the magazine New York that by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin's music on disc, Nonesuch Records "created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival."[97]

In January 1971, Harold C. Schonberg, music critic at The New York Times, having just heard the Rifkin album, wrote a featured Sunday edition article titled "Scholars, Get Busy on Scott Joplin!"[98] Schonberg's call to action has been described as the catalyst for classical music scholars, the sort of people Joplin had battled all his life, to conclude that Joplin was a genius.[99] Vera Brodsky Lawrence of the New York Public Library published a two-volume set of Joplin works in June 1971, titled The Collected Works of Scott Joplin, stimulating a wider interest in the performance of Joplin's music.

In mid-February 1973 under the direction of Gunther Schuller, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded an album of Joplin's rags taken from the period collection Standard High-Class Rags titled Joplin: The Red Back Book. The album won a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance in that year and became Billboard magazine's Top Classical Album of 1974.[100] The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records: More Scott Joplin Rags in 1974 and The Road From Rags To Jazz in 1975.

 
Cover of the 1973 film, The Sting, which featured Joplin's music

In 1973, film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately, asking both men to write the score for a film project he was working on: The Sting. Both men turned down the request because of previous commitments. Instead, Hill found Marvin Hamlisch available and brought him into the project as composer.[101] Hamlisch lightly adapted Joplin's music for The Sting, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Adaptation on April 2, 1974.[102] His version of "The Entertainer" reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the American Top 40 music chart on May 18, 1974,[103][104] prompting The New York Times to write, "The whole nation has begun to take notice."[96] Because of the film and its score, Joplin's work became appreciated in both the popular and classical music world, becoming (in the words of music magazine Record World) the "classical phenomenon of the decade."[105] Rifkin later said of the film soundtrack that Hamlisch lifted his piano adaptations directly from Rifkin's style and his band adaptations from Schuller's style.[101] Schuller said Hamlisch "got the Oscar for music he didn't write (since it is by Joplin) and arrangements he didn't write, and 'editions' he didn't make. A lot of people were upset by that, but that's show biz!"[101]

On October 22, 1971, excerpts from Treemonisha were presented in concert form at Lincoln Center, with musical performances by Bolcom, Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams supporting a group of singers.[106] Finally, on January 28, 1972, T.J. Anderson's orchestration of Treemonisha was staged for two consecutive nights, sponsored by the Afro-American Music Workshop of Morehouse College in Atlanta, with singers accompanied by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra[107] under the direction of Robert Shaw, and choreography by Katherine Dunham. Schonberg remarked in February 1972 that the "Scott Joplin Renaissance" was in full swing and still growing.[108] In May 1975, Treemonisha was staged in a full opera production by the Houston Grand Opera. The company toured briefly, then settled into an eight-week run in New York on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in October and November. This appearance was directed by Gunther Schuller, and soprano Carmen Balthrop alternated with Kathleen Battle as the title character.[107] An "original Broadway cast" recording was produced. Because of the lack of national exposure given to the brief Morehouse College staging of the opera in 1972, many Joplin scholars wrote that the Houston Grand Opera's 1975 show was the first full production.[106]

1974 saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet under director Kenneth MacMillan create Elite Syncopations, a ballet based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era.[109] That year also brought the premiere by the Los Angeles Ballet of Red Back Book, choreographed by John Clifford to Joplin rags from the collection of the same name, including both solo piano performances and arrangements for full orchestra.[110]

Copyright attorney Alvin Deutsch worked with Vera Brodsky Lawrence to make sure the Joplin estate owned the rights to his work. Deutsch negotiated with New York Public Library to get Treemonisha copyright and got the Joplin estate $60,000 in the '70s when someone infringed on that copyright. Their work helped to mount the show Treemonisha via Dramatic Publishing.

Other awards and recognition edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ Berlin (1994).
  2. ^ . December 9, 2009. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Edwards (2008).
  4. ^ Berlin (2012).
  5. ^ "Scott Joplin, the once forgotten 'King of Ragtime', has a tragic but hopeful story". Classic FM. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Jasen, David A. (2007). Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography. New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-415-97862-0. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  7. ^ Jasen & Tichenor (1978) p. 82.
  8. ^ . Texas Music History Online. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
  9. ^ Morath (2005), p. 32.
  10. ^ Haskins, James (1978). Scott Joplin. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. p. 32. ISBN 0-385-11155-X.
  11. ^ a b Blesh (1981), p. xiv
  12. ^ a b Berlin, p. 147
  13. ^ a b Berlin, Ed. "Scott Joplin – the man and his music". Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  14. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 4–5.
  15. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 6.
  16. ^ a b Curtis (2004) p. 38.
  17. ^ a b Berlin (1994), pp. 7–8
  18. ^ a b Albrecht (1979) pp. 89–105.
  19. ^ "Play about Scott Joplin is electrifying." Tauber, Eric George. San Diego Jewish World. www.sdjewishworld.com. Published September 28, 2014. Accessed November 6, 2017.
  20. ^ Christensen (1999) p. 442
  21. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 9.
  22. ^ a b Kirk (2001) p. 190.
  23. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 8–9.
  24. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 11–12.
  25. ^ Christensen (1999) p. 442.
  26. ^ St. Louis Dispatch, quoted in Scott & Rutkoff (2001), p. 36
  27. ^ a b Jasen (1981), pp. 319–320
  28. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 131–132.
  29. ^ Edwards (2010).
  30. ^ RedHotJazz.
  31. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 24–25.
  32. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 25–27.
  33. ^ Blesh (1981), p. xviii.
  34. ^ a b c d Scott & Rutkoff (2001), p. 37
  35. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 19.
  36. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 27, 31–34.
  37. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 47, 52.
  38. ^ a b Berlin (1994), pp. 56, 58
  39. ^ Berlin 1994, p. 62.
  40. ^ a b c Blesh (1981), p. xxiii
  41. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 128.
  42. ^ a b c d Jasen & Tichenor (1978) p. 88
  43. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 103–104.
  44. ^ Berlin 1994, p. 142.
  45. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 149.
  46. ^ "Profile of Scott Joplin". Classical.net. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  47. ^ a b Kirk (2001) p. 191.
  48. ^ a b Ryerson (1973)
  49. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 226, 230.
  50. ^ Vera Brodsky Lawrence, sleeve notes to 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of Treemonisha, quoted in Kirk (2001) p. 191.
  51. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 239.
  52. ^ Walsh, Michael (September 19, 1994). . Time. Archived from the original on January 11, 2005. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  53. ^ Berlin (1998).
  54. ^ Scott & Rutkoff (2001), p. 38.
  55. ^ John Chancellor (October 3, 1974). "Vanderbilt Television News Archive summary". Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  56. ^ a b Curtis (2004) p. 37.
  57. ^ a b Whitcomb (1986), p. 24
  58. ^ Davis (1995) pp. 67–68.
  59. ^ Williams (1987)
  60. ^ Tennison, John. "History of Boogie Woogie". Chapter 15. Retrieved October 4, 2009.
  61. ^ a b Morath (2005), p. 33
  62. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 136.
  63. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 169–170.
  64. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 203.
  65. ^ Crawford (2001) p. 545.
  66. ^ a b Christensen (1999) p. 444.
  67. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 203–204.
  68. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 202, 204.
  69. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 207–208.
  70. ^ Berlin (1994), p. 202.
  71. ^ Kirk (2001) p. 194.
  72. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 202–203.
  73. ^ Barrymore Laurence Scherer (December 6, 2011). "Opera Treemonisha as It Was Intended To Be". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  74. ^ . Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  75. ^ Jasen & Tichenor (1978) p. 86.
  76. ^ a b Berlin (1994), p. 237
  77. ^ . Pianola. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  78. ^ Berlin (1994), pp. 237, 239.
  79. ^ Blesh (1981), p. xxxix.
  80. ^ Siepmann (1998) p. 36.
  81. ^ Philip (1998) pp. 77–78.
  82. ^ Howat (1986) p. 160.
  83. ^ McElhone (2004) p. 26.
  84. ^ "Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project". November 16, 2005.
  85. ^ "Maple Leaf Rag Played by Scott Joplin". YouTube.
  86. ^ Rifkin, Joshua. Scott Joplin Piano Rags, Nonesuch Records (1970) album cover
  87. ^ Curtis (2004) p. 1.
  88. ^ Levin (2002) p. 197.
  89. ^ Timothy Baumann, et al. "Interpreting Uncomfortable History at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri." The Public Historian 33.2 (2011): 37–66. online
  90. ^ The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, The Greatest of Ragtime Composers, John W. (Knocky) Parker, piano. Audiophile Records (1970) AP 71–72
  91. ^ Waldo (1976) pp. 179–82.
  92. ^ "Scott Joplin Piano Rags Nonesuch Records CD (with bonus tracks)". Nonesuch.com. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  93. ^ "Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch.com. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  94. ^ Anon. (1974a), p. 61.
  95. ^ "Entertainment Awards Database". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
  96. ^ a b Kronenberger, John (August 11, 1974). "The Ragtime Revival – A Belated Ode to Composer Scott Joplin". The New York Times.
  97. ^ Rich (1979), p. 81.
  98. ^ Schonberg, Harold C. (January 24, 1971). "Scholars, Get Busy on Scott Joplin!". The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  99. ^ Waldo (1976) p. 184.
  100. ^ "Top Classical Albums". Billboard. Vol. 86, no. 52. December 26, 1974. p. 34. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  101. ^ a b c Waldo (1976) p. 187.
  102. ^ "Entertainment Awards Database". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  103. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 26, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
  104. ^ Anon. (1974b), p. 64.
  105. ^ Record World Magazine July 1974, quoted in Berlin (1994), p. 251.
  106. ^ a b Ping-Robbins (1998), p. 289.
  107. ^ a b Peterson, Bernard L. (1993). A century of musicals in black and white. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 357. ISBN 0-313-26657-3. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  108. ^ Schonberg, Harold C. (February 13, 1972). "The Scott Joplin Renaissance Grows". The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  109. ^ . Birmingham Royal Ballet. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  110. ^ Cariaga, Daniel (November 25, 1974). "Clifford Completes Eight-Year Cycle". Los Angeles Times. pp. E20.
  111. ^ . Songwritershalloffame.org. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
  112. ^ "Special Awards and Citations". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  113. ^ ESPER.
  114. ^ St. Louis Walk of Fame.
  115. ^ "2002 National Recording Registry from the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  116. ^ "Joplin". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. NASA. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  117. ^ "FAQ | Joplin". joplinapp.org. Retrieved November 8, 2023.

References edit

Books edit

  • Blesh, Rudi (1981). "Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist". In Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (ed.). Scott Joplin – Complete Piano Works. New York Public Library. ISBN 0-87104-272-X.
  • Berlin, Edward A. (1994). King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510108-1 – via Internet Archive.
  • Crawford, Richard (2001). America's Musical Life: A History. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-04810-1.
  • Curtis, Susan (1999). Christensen, Lawrence O. (ed.). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1222-0. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  • Curtis, Susan (2004). Dancing to a Black Man's Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1547-5.
  • Davis, Francis (1995). The History of the Blues:The Roots, the Music, the People. Hyperion. ISBN 0-306-81296-7.
  • Howat, Roy (1986). Debussy in Proportion: A Musical Analysis. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31145-4. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
  • Jasen, David A.; Trebor Jay Tichenor (1978). Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 88. ISBN 0-486-25922-6.
  • Jasen, David A. (1981). "Discography of 78 rpm Records of Joplin Works". In Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (ed.). Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works. New York Public Library. ISBN 0-87104-272-X.
  • Kirk, Elise Kuhl (2001). American Opera. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02623-3.
  • Lawrence, Vera Brodsky, ed. (1971). Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works. New York Public Library. ISBN 0-87104-242-8.
  • Levin, Floyd (2002). Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23463-5.
  • McElhone, Kevin (2004). Mechanical Music (2 ed.). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-7478-0578-4. Retrieved April 16, 2009.
  • Morath, Max (2005). Kirchner, Bill (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Jazz. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-518359-2.
  • Philip, Robert (1998). Rowland, David (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Piano. Cambridge Companions to Music (Illustrated, reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47986-X. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
  • Scott, William B.; Rutkoff, Peter M. (2001). New York Modern: The Arts and the City. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6793-2.
  • Ping-Robbins, Nancy R. (1998). Scott Joplin: a guide to research. Psychology Press. ISBN 0-8240-8399-7. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
  • Siepmann, Jeremy (1998). The Piano: The Complete Illustrated Guide to the World's Most Popular Musical Instrument. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-7935-9976-8.
  • Ryerson, Bill; Joplin, Scott (1973). Best of Scott Joplin: a Collection of Original Ragtime Piano Compositions. C. Hansen Music and Books. ISBN 0-8494-0581-5.
  • Waldo, Terry (1976). This Is Ragtime. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc. ISBN 0-8015-7618-0.
  • Whitcomb, Ian (1986). After the Ball. Hal Leonard Corp. ISBN 0-87910-063-X.
  • Williams, Martin, ed. (1987). The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 0-393-99342-6.

Web pages edit

  • Berlin, Edward A. (1998). . The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation. Archived from the original on February 24, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  • Berlin, Edward A. (2012). . Edward A. Berlin. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
  • Edwards, "Perfessor" Bill (2008). . Archived from the original on June 6, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  • Edwards, "Perfessor" Bill (2010). . Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  • ESPER. "Black Heritage Stamp issues". Ebony Society of Philatelic Reflections, Inc. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  • RedHotJazz. "Wilbur Sweatman and His Band". Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  • St. Louis Walk of Fame. . St. Louis Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on October 31, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  • Piras, Marcello (2017). "Scott Joplin – Silver Swan". Academia.edu. Retrieved February 5, 2019.

Journals and magazines edit

  • Albrecht, Theodore (Fall 1979). "Julius Weiss: Scott Joplin's First Piano Teacher". College Music Symposium. 19 (2): 89–105. JSTOR 40374020.
  • Anon. (September 28, 1974a). "Best Selling Classical LPs". Billboard. p. 61. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  • Anon. (May 18, 1974b). "Hot 100". Billboard. p. 64. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  • Rich, Alan (1979). "Music". New York. No. December 24, 1979. p. 81. Retrieved August 5, 2011.

Further reading edit

External links edit

  • Free scores by Scott Joplin at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  • The Mutopia Project has compositions by Scott Joplin
  • Texas Stat Historical Association – Biography of Scott Joplin
  • The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation
  • Joplin at St. Louis Walk of Fame November 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  • Biography of Scott Joplin at Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • The Easy Winners & Other Rag-Time Music of Scott Joplin adapted for violin and piano, performed by Itzhak Perlman and Andre Previn

scott, joplin, biographical, film, film, painting, ellen, banks, painting, this, article, lead, section, long, please, read, length, guidelines, help, move, details, into, article, body, september, 2023, november, 1868, april, 1917, american, composer, pianist. For the biographical film see Scott Joplin film For the painting by Ellen Banks see Scott Joplin painting This article s lead section may be too long Please read the length guidelines and help move details into the article s body September 2023 Scott Joplin November 24 1868 April 1 1917 was an American composer and pianist Dubbed the King of Ragtime 1 he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces 2 one ragtime ballet and two operas One of his first and most popular pieces the Maple Leaf Rag became the genre s first and most influential hit later being recognized as the quintessential rag 3 Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons Scott JoplinJoplin in 1903BornNovember 24 1868Texarkana Texas U S or Linden Texas U S disputed DiedApril 1 1917 1917 04 01 aged 48 Manhattan New York City U S Burial placeSt Michael s CemeteryEducationGeorge R Smith CollegeOccupationsComposerpianistmusic teacherYears active1895 1917SpousesBelle Jones m 1899 div 1903 wbr Freddie Alexander m 1904 died 1904 wbr Lottie Stokes m 1909 wbr AwardsPulitzer Prize posthumous 1976 SignatureJoplin grew up in a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana Arkansas developing his own musical knowledge with the help of local teachers While in Texarkana he formed a vocal quartet and taught mandolin and guitar During the late 1880s he left his job as a railroad laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician He went to Chicago for the World s Fair of 1893 which helped make ragtime a national craze by 1897 Joplin moved to Sedalia Missouri in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher There he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall Scott Hayden and Brun Campbell He began publishing music in 1895 and publication of his Maple Leaf Rag in 1899 brought him fame This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime It also brought Joplin a steady income for life In 1901 Joplin moved to St Louis where he continued to compose publish and regularly perform in the community In 1903 the score to his first opera A Guest of Honor was confiscated along with his belongings for non payment of bills likely as a result of being robbed It is now considered lost 4 In 1907 Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the musical form that had made him famous but without much monetary success His second opera Treemonisha was never fully staged during his life In 1916 Joplin descended into dementia as a result of neurosyphilis In mid January 1917 he was admitted to a mental asylum and died there less than three months later at the age of 48 Joplin s death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format over the next several years it evolved with other styles into stride jazz and eventually swing Joplin s music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin 5 This was followed by the Academy Award winning 1973 film The Sting which featured several of Joplin s compositions most notably The Entertainer a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch that received wide airplay Treemonisha was finally produced in full to wide acclaim in 1972 In 1976 Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize Contents 1 Early life 2 Life in the Southern states and Chicago 3 Life in Missouri 4 Later years and death 5 Works 5 1 Treemonisha 5 2 Performance skills 6 Legacy 6 1 Museum 7 Revival 8 Other awards and recognition 9 Footnotes 10 References 10 1 Books 10 2 Web pages 10 3 Journals and magazines 11 Further reading 12 External linksEarly life editJoplin was the second of six children 6 born to Giles Joplin a former slave from North Carolina and Florence Givens a freeborn African American woman from Kentucky 7 8 9 His birth date was accepted by early biographers Rudi Blesh and James Haskins as November 24 1868 10 11 although later biographer Edward A Berlin showed this was almost certainly incorrect 12 There is disagreement over his exact place of birth in Texas with Blesh identifying Texarkana 11 and Berlin showing the earliest record of Joplin being the June 1870 census which locates him in Linden as a two year old 13 14 By 1880 the Joplins moved to Texarkana Arkansas where Giles worked as a railroad laborer and Florence as a cleaner As Joplin s father had played the violin for plantation parties in North Carolina and his mother sang and played the banjo 6 Joplin was given a rudimentary musical education by his family and from the age of seven he was allowed to play the piano while his mother cleaned 15 At some point in the early 1880s Giles Joplin left the family for another woman and Florence struggled to support her children through domestic work Biographer Susan Curtis speculates that Florence s support of her son s musical education was a critical factor behind her separation from Giles who wanted the boy to pursue practical employment that would supplement the family income 16 At the age of 16 Joplin performed in a vocal quartet with three other boys in and around Texarkana also playing piano He also taught guitar and mandolin 17 According to a family friend the young Joplin was serious and ambitious studying music and playing the piano after school While a few local teachers aided him he received most of his musical education from Julius Weiss a German born American Jewish music professor who had immigrated to Texas in the late 1860s and was employed as music tutor by a prominent local business family 18 Weiss as described by San Diego Jewish World writer Eric George Tauber was no stranger to receiving race hatred As a Jew in Germany he was often slapped and called a Christ killer 19 Weiss had studied music at a German university and was listed in town records as a professor of music Impressed by Joplin s talent and realizing the Joplin family s dire straits Weiss taught him free of charge While tutoring Joplin from the ages of 11 to 16 Weiss introduced him to folk and classical music including opera Weiss helped Joplin appreciate music as an art as well as an entertainment 17 and helped Florence acquire a used piano According to Joplin s widow Lottie Joplin never forgot Weiss In his later years after achieving fame as a composer Joplin sent his former teacher gifts of money when he was old and ill until Weiss died 18 Life in the Southern states and Chicago editIn the late 1880s having performed at various local events as a teenager Joplin gave up his job as a railroad laborer and left Texarkana to become a traveling musician 20 Little is known about his movements at this time although he is recorded in Texarkana in July 1891 as a member of the Texarkana Minstrels who were raising money for a monument to Jefferson Davis president of the former Confederate States of America 21 However Joplin soon learned that there were few opportunities for black pianists Churches and brothels were among the few options for steady work Joplin played pre ragtime jig piano in various red light districts throughout the mid South and some claim he was in Sedalia and St Louis Missouri during this time 22 23 In 1893 while in Chicago for the World s Fair Joplin formed a band in which he played cornet and also arranged the band s music Although the World s Fair minimized the involvement of African Americans black performers still came to the saloons cafes and brothels that lined the fair The exposition was attended by 27 million visitors and had a profound effect on many areas of American cultural life including ragtime Although specific information is sparse numerous sources have credited the Chicago World s Fair with spreading the popularity of ragtime 24 Joplin found that his music as well as that of other black performers was popular with visitors 25 By 1897 ragtime had become a national craze in U S cities and was described by the St Louis Dispatch as a veritable call of the wild which mightily stirred the pulses of city bred people 26 Life in Missouri edit nbsp Maple Leaf Rag source source 1906 recording of the Maple Leaf Rag by the United States Marine Band This is the oldest surviving recording of the Maple Leaf Rag 27 28 29 30 Problems playing this file See media help In 1894 Joplin arrived in Sedalia Missouri At first Joplin stayed with the family of Arthur Marshall At the time Marshall was a 13 year old boy but he later became one of Joplin s students and a ragtime composer in his own right 31 There is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence in the town until 1904 as Joplin was making a living as a touring musician nbsp Front cover of the third edition of the Maple Leaf Rag sheet music with Joplin portraitThere is little precise evidence known about Joplin s activities at this time although he performed as a solo musician at dances and at the major black clubs in Sedalia the Black 400 Club and the Maple Leaf Club He performed in the Queen City Cornet Band and his own six piece dance orchestra A tour with his own singing group the Texas Medley Quartet gave him his first opportunity to publish his own compositions and it is known that he went to Syracuse New York and Texas Two businessmen from New York published Joplin s first two works the songs Please Say You Will and A Picture of Her Face in 1895 32 Joplin s visit to Temple Texas enabled him to have three pieces published there in 1896 including the Great Crush Collision March which commemorated a planned train crash on the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad on September 15 that he may have witnessed The march was described by one of Joplin s biographers as a special early essay in ragtime 33 While in Sedalia Joplin taught piano to students who included future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall Brun Campbell and Scott Hayden 34 Joplin enrolled at the George R Smith College where he apparently studied advanced harmony and composition The college s records were destroyed in a fire in 1925 35 and biographer Edward A Berlin notes that it was unlikely that a small college for African Americans would be able to provide such a course 3 36 Although there were hundreds of rags in print by the time the Maple Leaf Rag was published Joplin was not far behind He completed his first published rag Original Rags in 1897 the same year that the first ragtime work appeared in print the Mississippi Rag by William Krell The Maple Leaf Rag was likely to have been known in Sedalia before its publication in 1899 Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in around 1898 37 The exact circumstances that led to the publication of the Maple Leaf Rag are unknown and a number of versions of the event contradict each other After several unsuccessful approaches to publishers Joplin signed a contract on August 10 1899 with John Stillwell Stark a retailer of musical instruments who became his most important publisher The contract stipulated that Joplin would receive a 1 royalty on all sales of the rag with a minimum sales price of 25 cents 38 With the inscription To the Maple Leaf Club prominently visible along the top of at least some editions it is likely that the rag was named after the Maple Leaf Club although there is no direct evidence to prove the link and there were many other possible sources for the name in and around Sedalia at the time 39 nbsp Scott Joplin House in St Louis Missouri nbsp Cover of Scott Joplin s 1905 work Bethena the woman on the cover may be Joplin s second wife Freddie Alexander 12 nbsp Bethena source source source Problems playing this file See media help There have been many claims about the sales of the Maple Leaf Rag one being that Joplin was the first musician to sell 1 million copies of a piece of instrumental music 3 Joplin s first biographer Rudi Blesh wrote that during its first six months the piece sold 75 000 copies and became the first great instrumental sheet music hit in America 40 However research by Joplin s later biographer Edward A Berlin demonstrated that this was not the case the initial print run of 400 took one year to sell and under the terms of Joplin s contract with a 1 royalty would have given Joplin an income of 4 or approximately 141 at current prices Later sales were steady and would have given Joplin an income that would have covered his expenses In 1909 estimated sales would have given him an income of 600 annually approximately 16 968 in current prices 38 The Maple Leaf Rag did serve as a model for the hundreds of rags to come from future composers especially in the development of classic ragtime 40 After the publication of the Maple Leaf Rag Joplin was soon being described as King of rag time writers not least by himself 41 on the covers of his own work such as The Easy Winners and Elite Syncopations During his time in St Louis Joplin collaborated with Scott Hayden in the composition of four rags 42 It was in St Louis that Joplin produced some of his best known works including The Entertainer March Majestic and the short theatrical work The Ragtime Dance In 1901 Joplin married his first wife Belle Jones 1875 1903 a sister in law of Scott Hayden By 1903 the Joplins had moved to a 13 room house renting some of the rooms to lodgers who included pianist composers Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden Joplin did not work as a pianist in the saloons in St Louis which was usually a major source of income for musicians as he was probably outclassed by the competition and was according to Stark s son a mediocre pianist Biographer Berlin speculated that by 1903 Joplin was already showing early signs of syphilis which reduced his coordination and pianistic skills 43 13 In 1903 Joplin s only child a daughter died Joplin and his first wife drifted apart In June 1904 Joplin married Freddie Alexander of Little Rock Arkansas the young woman to whom he had dedicated The Chrysanthemum She died on September 10 1904 of complications resulting from a cold ten weeks after their wedding 44 Bethena Joplin s first work copyrighted after Freddie s death was described by one biographer as an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of ragtime waltzes 45 During this time Joplin created an opera company of 30 people and produced his first opera A Guest of Honor for a national tour It is not certain how many productions were staged or even whether this was an all black show or a racially mixed production During the tour either in Springfield Illinois or Pittsburg Kansas someone associated with the company stole the box office receipts Joplin could not meet the company s payroll or pay for its lodgings at a theatrical boarding house It is believed that the score for A Guest of Honor was lost and perhaps destroyed because of non payment of the company s boarding house bill 46 Later years and death edit nbsp Front cover of the Wall Street Rag 1909 sheet musicIn 1907 Joplin moved to New York City which he believed was the best place to find a producer for a new opera After his move to New York Joplin met Lottie Stokes whom he married in 1909 42 In 1911 unable to find a publisher Joplin undertook the financial burden of publishing Treemonisha himself in piano vocal format In 1915 as a last ditch effort to see it performed he invited a small audience to hear it at a rehearsal hall in Harlem Poorly staged and with only Joplin on piano accompaniment it was a miserable failure to a public not ready for crude black musical forms so different from the European grand opera of that time 47 The audience including potential backers was indifferent and walked out 48 Scott writes that after a disastrous single performance Joplin suffered a breakdown He was bankrupt discouraged and worn out He concludes that few American artists of his generation faced such obstacles Treemonisha went unnoticed and unreviewed largely because Joplin had abandoned commercial music in favor of art music a field closed to African Americans 34 It was not until the 1970s that the opera received a full theatrical staging In 1914 Joplin and Lottie self published his Magnetic Rag as the Scott Joplin Music Company which he had formed the previous December 49 Biographer Vera Brodsky Lawrence speculates that Joplin was aware of his advancing deterioration due to syphilis and was consciously racing against time In her sleeve notes on the 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of Treemonisha she notes that he plunged feverishly into the task of orchestrating his opera day and night with his friend Sam Patterson standing by to copy out the parts page by page as each page of the full score was completed 50 nbsp Scott Joplin MemorialBy 1916 Joplin had developed tertiary syphilis 51 52 but more specifically it likely was neurosyphilis On February 2 1917 he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital a mental institution 53 The King of Ragtime died there on April 1 of syphilitic dementia at the age of 48 47 54 and was buried in a pauper s grave that remained unmarked for 57 years His grave located at St Michael s Cemetery in East Elmhurst was finally given a marker in 1974 the year The Sting which showcased his music won Best Picture at the Oscars 55 Works editFurther information List of compositions by Scott Joplin nbsp Maple Leaf Rag source source The Entertainer source source Problems playing these files See media help The combination of classical music the musical atmosphere present around Texarkana including work songs gospel hymns spirituals and dance music and Joplin s natural ability have been cited as contributing to the invention of ragtime a new style that blended African American musical styles with European forms and melodies and first became celebrated in the 1890s 16 When Joplin was learning the piano serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs cranked out by the tune smiths of Tin Pan Alley 56 As a composer Joplin refined ragtime elevating it above the low and unrefined form played by the wandering honky tonk pianists playing mere dance music of popular imagination 57 This new art form the classic rag combined Afro American folk music s syncopation and 19th century European romanticism with its harmonic schemes and its march like tempos 42 58 In the words of one critic Ragtime was basically an Afro American version of the polka or its analog the Sousa style march 59 With this as a foundation Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them without improvisation 34 Joplin wrote his rags as classical music in miniature form in order to raise ragtime above its cheap bordello origins and produced work that opera historian Elise Kirk described as more tuneful contrapuntal infectious and harmonically colorful than any others of his era 22 Some speculate that Joplin s achievements were influenced by his classically trained German music teacher Julius Weiss who may have brought a polka rhythmic sensibility from the old country to the 11 year old Joplin 60 As Curtis put it The educated German could open up the door to a world of learning and music of which young Joplin was largely unaware 56 Joplin s first and most significant hit the Maple Leaf Rag was described as the archetype of the classic rag and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years after its initial publication thanks to its rhythmic patterns melody lines and harmony 40 though with the exception of Joseph Lamb and James Scott they generally failed to enlarge upon it 61 Joplin used the Maple Leaf Rag as inspiration for subsequent works such as The Cascades in 1903 Leola in 1905 Gladiolus Rag in 1907 and Sugar Cane Rag in 1908 While he used similar harmonic and melodic patterns 62 the later compositions were not simple copies but were distinctly new works which used dissonance chromatic sections and the blues third 63 Treemonisha edit Main article Treemonisha nbsp Treemonisha 1911 The opera s setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin s childhood town Texarkana in September 1884 The plot centers on an 18 year old woman Treemonisha who is taught to read by a white woman and then leads her community against the influence of conjurers who prey on ignorance and superstition Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps nest when her friend Remus rescues her The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader 64 65 66 Joplin wrote both the score and the libretto for the opera which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias ensembles and choruses In addition the themes of superstition and mysticism evident in Treemonisha are common in the operatic tradition and certain aspects of the plot echo devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner of which Joplin was aware A sacred tree that Treemonisha sits beneath recalls the tree that Siegmund takes his enchanted sword from in Die Walkure and the retelling of the heroine s origins echos aspects of the opera Siegfried In addition African American folk tales also influence the story the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of Br er Rabbit and the briar patch 67 Treemonisha is not a ragtime opera because Joplin employed the styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly using them to convey racial character and to celebrate the music of his childhood at the end of the 19th century The opera has been seen as a valuable record of rural black music from late 19th century re created by a skilled and sensitive participant 68 Berlin speculates about parallels between the plot and Joplin s own life He notes that Lottie Joplin the composer s third wife saw a connection between the character Treemonisha s wish to lead her people out of ignorance and a similar desire in the composer In addition it has been speculated that Treemonisha represents Freddie Joplin s second wife because the date of the opera s setting was likely to have been the month of her birth 69 At the time of the opera s publication in 1911 the American Musician and Art Journal praised it as an entirely new form of operatic art 70 Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history with its heroine a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement 71 Curtis s conclusion is similar In the end Treemonisha offered a celebration of literacy learning hard work and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race 66 Berlin describes it as a fine opera certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States but later states that Joplin s own libretto showed the composer was not a competent dramatist with the book not up to the quality of the music 72 As Rick Benjamin the founder and director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra found out Joplin succeeded in performing Treemonisha for paying audiences in Bayonne New Jersey in 1913 73 Performance skills edit nbsp Pleasant Moments Ragtime Waltz played by Scott Joplin April 1916 source source April 1916 piano roll recording of Scott Joplin thought lost until discovered by a collector in New Zealand in 2006 74 Maple Leaf Rag played by Scott Joplin June 1916 source source June 1916 piano roll recording of Scott Joplin for The Aeolian Company Problems playing these files See media help Joplin s skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898 and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well 42 However the son of publisher John Stark stated that Joplin was a rather mediocre pianist and that he composed on paper rather than at the piano Artie Matthews recalled the delight the St Louis players took in outplaying Joplin 75 While Joplin never made an audio recording his playing is preserved on seven piano rolls for use in mechanical player pianos All seven were made in 1916 Of these the six released under the Connorized label show evidence of editing to correct the performance to strict rhythm and add embellishments 76 probably by the staff musicians at Connorized 77 Berlin theorizes that by the time Joplin reached St Louis he may have experienced discoordination of the fingers tremors and an inability to speak clearly all symptoms of the syphilis that killed him in 1917 78 Biographer Blesh described the second roll recording of Maple Leaf Rag on the UniRecord label from June 1916 as shocking disorganized and completely distressing to hear 79 While there is disagreement among piano roll experts as to how much of this is due to the relatively primitive recording and production techniques of the time 80 81 82 83 Berlin notes that the Maple Leaf Rag roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin s playing at the time The roll however may not reflect his abilities earlier in life 76 A stronger performance by Joplin is held in the University of California at Santa Barbara s cylinder archive It was apparently found in a mislabeled box of wax cylinders sold on eBay long after Blesh examined the June 1916 recording and is likely to date from earlier in Joplin s life in April 1916 84 Although that recording is severely damaged a cleaned up MIDI version reveals a considerably stronger performance 85 Legacy edit nbsp A commemorative plaque to Joplin in TexasJoplin and his fellow ragtime composers rejuvenated American popular music fostering an appreciation for African American music among European Americans by creating exhilarating and liberating dance tunes Its syncopation and rhythmic drive gave it a vitality and freshness attractive to young urban audiences indifferent to Victorian proprieties Joplin s ragtime expressed the intensity and energy of a modern urban America 34 Joshua Rifkin a leading Joplin recording artist wrote A pervasive sense of lyricism infuses his work and even at his most high spirited he cannot repress a hint of melancholy or adversity He had little in common with the fast and flashy school of ragtime that grew up after him 86 Joplin historian Bill Ryerson adds that In the hands of authentic practitioners like Joplin ragtime was a disciplined form capable of astonishing variety and subtlety Joplin did for the rag what Chopin did for the mazurka His style ranged from tones of torment to stunning serenades that incorporated the bolero and the tango 48 Biographer Susan Curtis wrote that Joplin s music had helped to revolutionise American music and culture by removing Victorian restraint 87 Composer and actor Max Morath found it striking that the vast majority of Joplin s work did not enjoy the popularity of the Maple Leaf Rag because while the compositions were of increasing lyrical beauty and delicate syncopation they remained obscure and unheralded during his life 61 Joplin apparently realized that his music was ahead of its time Music historian Ian Whitcomb mentions that Joplin opined that Maple Leaf Rag would make him King of Ragtime Composers but he also knew that he would not be a pop hero in his own lifetime When I m dead twenty five years people are going to recognize me he told a friend Just over thirty years later he was recognized and later historian Rudi Blesh wrote a large book about ragtime which he dedicated to the memory of Joplin 57 Although he was penniless and disappointed at the end of his life Joplin set the standard for ragtime compositions and played a key role in the development of ragtime music And as a pioneer composer and performer he helped pave the way for young black artists to reach American audiences of all races After his death jazz historian Floyd Levin noted Those few who realized his greatness bowed their heads in sorrow This was the passing of the king of all ragtime writers the man who gave America a genuine native music 88 Museum edit Main article Scott Joplin House State Historic Site The home Joplin rented in St Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community In 1983 the Missouri Department of Natural Resources made it the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to African American heritage At first it focused entirely on Joplin and ragtime music ignoring the urban milieu which shaped his musical compositions A newer heritage project has expanded coverage to include the more complex social history of black urban migration and the transformation of a multi ethnic neighborhood to the contemporary community Part of this diverse narrative now includes coverage of uncomfortable topics of racial oppression poverty sanitation prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases 89 Revival edit nbsp Joplin s star on the St Louis Walk of FameAfter his death in 1917 Joplin s music and ragtime in general waned in popularity as new forms of musical styles such as jazz and novelty piano emerged Even so jazz bands and recording artists such as Tommy Dorsey in 1936 Jelly Roll Morton in 1939 and J Russel Robinson in 1947 released recordings of Joplin compositions Maple Leaf Rag was the Joplin piece found most often on 78 rpm records 27 In the 1960s a small scale reawakening of interest in classical ragtime was underway among some American music scholars such as Trebor Tichenor William Bolcom William Albright and Rudi Blesh Audiophile Records released a two record set The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin The Greatest of Ragtime Composers performed by Knocky Parker in 1970 90 In 1968 Bolcom and Albright interested Joshua Rifkin a young musicologist in the body of Joplin s work Together they hosted an occasional ragtime and early jazz evening on WBAI radio 91 In November 1970 Rifkin released a recording called Scott Joplin Piano Rags 92 on the classical label Nonesuch It sold 100 000 copies in its first year and eventually became Nonesuch s first million selling record 93 The Billboard Best Selling Classical LPs chart for September 28 1974 has the record at number 5 with the follow up Volume 2 at number 4 and a combined set of both volumes at number 3 Separately both volumes had been on the chart for 64 weeks In the top seven spots on that chart six of the entries were recordings of Joplin s work three of which were Rifkin s 94 Record stores found themselves for the first time putting ragtime in the classical music section The album was nominated in 1971 for two Grammy Award categories Best Album Notes and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance without orchestra Rifkin was also under consideration for a third Grammy for a recording not related to Joplin but at the ceremony on March 14 1972 Rifkin did not win in any category 95 He did a tour in 1974 which included appearances on BBC Television and a sell out concert at London s Royal Festival Hall 96 In 1979 Alan Rich wrote in the magazine New York that by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin s music on disc Nonesuch Records created almost alone the Scott Joplin revival 97 In January 1971 Harold C Schonberg music critic at The New York Times having just heard the Rifkin album wrote a featured Sunday edition article titled Scholars Get Busy on Scott Joplin 98 Schonberg s call to action has been described as the catalyst for classical music scholars the sort of people Joplin had battled all his life to conclude that Joplin was a genius 99 Vera Brodsky Lawrence of the New York Public Library published a two volume set of Joplin works in June 1971 titled The Collected Works of Scott Joplin stimulating a wider interest in the performance of Joplin s music In mid February 1973 under the direction of Gunther Schuller the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded an album of Joplin s rags taken from the period collection Standard High Class Rags titled Joplin The Red Back Book The album won a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance in that year and became Billboard magazine s Top Classical Album of 1974 100 The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records More Scott Joplin Rags in 1974 and The Road From Rags To Jazz in 1975 nbsp Cover of the 1973 film The Sting which featured Joplin s musicIn 1973 film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately asking both men to write the score for a film project he was working on The Sting Both men turned down the request because of previous commitments Instead Hill found Marvin Hamlisch available and brought him into the project as composer 101 Hamlisch lightly adapted Joplin s music for The Sting for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Adaptation on April 2 1974 102 His version of The Entertainer reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the American Top 40 music chart on May 18 1974 103 104 prompting The New York Times to write The whole nation has begun to take notice 96 Because of the film and its score Joplin s work became appreciated in both the popular and classical music world becoming in the words of music magazine Record World the classical phenomenon of the decade 105 Rifkin later said of the film soundtrack that Hamlisch lifted his piano adaptations directly from Rifkin s style and his band adaptations from Schuller s style 101 Schuller said Hamlisch got the Oscar for music he didn t write since it is by Joplin and arrangements he didn t write and editions he didn t make A lot of people were upset by that but that s show biz 101 On October 22 1971 excerpts from Treemonisha were presented in concert form at Lincoln Center with musical performances by Bolcom Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams supporting a group of singers 106 Finally on January 28 1972 T J Anderson s orchestration of Treemonisha was staged for two consecutive nights sponsored by the Afro American Music Workshop of Morehouse College in Atlanta with singers accompanied by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 107 under the direction of Robert Shaw and choreography by Katherine Dunham Schonberg remarked in February 1972 that the Scott Joplin Renaissance was in full swing and still growing 108 In May 1975 Treemonisha was staged in a full opera production by the Houston Grand Opera The company toured briefly then settled into an eight week run in New York on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in October and November This appearance was directed by Gunther Schuller and soprano Carmen Balthrop alternated with Kathleen Battle as the title character 107 An original Broadway cast recording was produced Because of the lack of national exposure given to the brief Morehouse College staging of the opera in 1972 many Joplin scholars wrote that the Houston Grand Opera s 1975 show was the first full production 106 1974 saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet under director Kenneth MacMillan create Elite Syncopations a ballet based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era 109 That year also brought the premiere by the Los Angeles Ballet of Red Back Book choreographed by John Clifford to Joplin rags from the collection of the same name including both solo piano performances and arrangements for full orchestra 110 Copyright attorney Alvin Deutsch worked with Vera Brodsky Lawrence to make sure the Joplin estate owned the rights to his work Deutsch negotiated with New York Public Library to get Treemonisha copyright and got the Joplin estate 60 000 in the 70s when someone infringed on that copyright Their work helped to mount the show Treemonisha via Dramatic Publishing Other awards and recognition edit1970 Joplin was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame by the National Academy of Popular Music 111 1976 Joplin was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize bestowed posthumously in this Bicentennial Year for his contributions to American music 112 1977 Motown Productions produced Scott Joplin a biographical film starring Billy Dee Williams as Joplin released by Universal Pictures 1983 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp of the composer as part of its Black Heritage commemorative series 113 1989 Joplin received a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame 114 2002 a collection of Joplin s own performances recorded on piano rolls in the 1900s decade was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry 115 The board annually selects songs that are culturally historically or aesthetically significant 2012 a crater on the planet Mercury was named in his honor 116 2016 Joplin an open source note taking application for desktop and mobile was named after Scott 117 Footnotes edit Berlin 1994 Perfessor Bill Edwards Scott Joplin Compositions 1895 1905 December 9 2009 Archived from the original on January 30 2013 Retrieved October 17 2023 a b c Edwards 2008 Berlin 2012 Scott Joplin the once forgotten King of Ragtime has a tragic but hopeful story Classic FM Retrieved July 26 2023 a b Jasen David A 2007 Ragtime An Encyclopedia Discography and Sheetography New York Taylor amp Francis p 109 ISBN 978 0 415 97862 0 Retrieved February 24 2013 Jasen amp Tichenor 1978 p 82 Scott Joplin Texas Music History Online Archived from the original on July 22 2011 Retrieved November 22 2006 Morath 2005 p 32 Haskins James 1978 Scott Joplin Garden City New York Doubleday p 32 ISBN 0 385 11155 X a b Blesh 1981 p xiv a b Berlin p 147 a b Berlin Ed Scott Joplin the man and his music Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival Retrieved June 14 2020 Berlin 1994 pp 4 5 Berlin 1994 p 6 a b Curtis 2004 p 38 a b Berlin 1994 pp 7 8 a b Albrecht 1979 pp 89 105 Play about Scott Joplin is electrifying Tauber Eric George San Diego Jewish World www sdjewishworld com Published September 28 2014 Accessed November 6 2017 Christensen 1999 p 442 Berlin 1994 p 9 a b Kirk 2001 p 190 Berlin 1994 pp 8 9 Berlin 1994 pp 11 12 Christensen 1999 p 442 St Louis Dispatch quoted in Scott amp Rutkoff 2001 p 36 a b Jasen 1981 pp 319 320 Berlin 1994 pp 131 132 Edwards 2010 RedHotJazz Berlin 1994 pp 24 25 Berlin 1994 pp 25 27 Blesh 1981 p xviii a b c d Scott amp Rutkoff 2001 p 37 Berlin 1994 p 19 Berlin 1994 pp 27 31 34 Berlin 1994 pp 47 52 a b Berlin 1994 pp 56 58 Berlin 1994 p 62 a b c Blesh 1981 p xxiii Berlin 1994 p 128 a b c d Jasen amp Tichenor 1978 p 88 Berlin 1994 pp 103 104 Berlin 1994 p 142 Berlin 1994 p 149 Profile of Scott Joplin Classical net Retrieved November 14 2009 a b Kirk 2001 p 191 a b Ryerson 1973 Berlin 1994 pp 226 230 Vera Brodsky Lawrence sleeve notes to 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of Treemonisha quoted in Kirk 2001 p 191 Berlin 1994 p 239 Walsh Michael September 19 1994 American Schubert Time Archived from the original on January 11 2005 Retrieved November 14 2009 Berlin 1998 Scott amp Rutkoff 2001 p 38 John Chancellor October 3 1974 Vanderbilt Television News Archive summary Vanderbilt Television News Archive Retrieved December 17 2011 a b Curtis 2004 p 37 a b Whitcomb 1986 p 24 Davis 1995 pp 67 68 Williams 1987 Tennison John History of Boogie Woogie Chapter 15 Retrieved October 4 2009 a b Morath 2005 p 33 Berlin 1994 p 136 Berlin 1994 pp 169 170 Berlin 1994 p 203 Crawford 2001 p 545 a b Christensen 1999 p 444 Berlin 1994 pp 203 204 Berlin 1994 pp 202 204 Berlin 1994 pp 207 208 Berlin 1994 p 202 Kirk 2001 p 194 Berlin 1994 pp 202 203 Barrymore Laurence Scherer December 6 2011 Opera Treemonisha as It Was Intended To Be The Wall Street Journal Retrieved April 26 2015 Pianola co nz Archived from the original on August 3 2009 Retrieved April 20 2009 Jasen amp Tichenor 1978 p 86 a b Berlin 1994 p 237 List of Piano Roll Artists Pianola Archived from the original on June 29 2011 Retrieved July 31 2010 Berlin 1994 pp 237 239 Blesh 1981 p xxxix Siepmann 1998 p 36 Philip 1998 pp 77 78 Howat 1986 p 160 McElhone 2004 p 26 Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project November 16 2005 Maple Leaf Rag Played by Scott Joplin YouTube Rifkin Joshua Scott Joplin Piano Rags Nonesuch Records 1970 album cover Curtis 2004 p 1 Levin 2002 p 197 Timothy Baumann et al Interpreting Uncomfortable History at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site in St Louis Missouri The Public Historian 33 2 2011 37 66 online The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin The Greatest of Ragtime Composers John W Knocky Parker piano Audiophile Records 1970 AP 71 72 Waldo 1976 pp 179 82 Scott Joplin Piano Rags Nonesuch Records CD with bonus tracks Nonesuch com Retrieved March 19 2009 Nonesuch Records Nonesuch com Retrieved March 19 2009 Anon 1974a p 61 Entertainment Awards Database Los Angeles Times Retrieved March 17 2009 a b Kronenberger John August 11 1974 The Ragtime Revival A Belated Ode to Composer Scott Joplin The New York Times Rich 1979 p 81 Schonberg Harold C January 24 1971 Scholars Get Busy on Scott Joplin The New York Times Retrieved March 20 2009 Waldo 1976 p 184 Top Classical Albums Billboard Vol 86 no 52 December 26 1974 p 34 Retrieved October 1 2019 a b c Waldo 1976 p 187 Entertainment Awards Database Los Angeles Times Retrieved March 14 2009 Charis Music Group compilation of cue sheets from the American Top 40 radio Show PDF Archived from the original PDF on August 26 2012 Retrieved September 5 2009 Anon 1974b p 64 Record World Magazine July 1974 quoted in Berlin 1994 p 251 a b Ping Robbins 1998 p 289 a b Peterson Bernard L 1993 A century of musicals in black and white Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press p 357 ISBN 0 313 26657 3 Retrieved March 20 2009 Schonberg Harold C February 13 1972 The Scott Joplin Renaissance Grows The New York Times Retrieved March 20 2009 Elite Syncopations a history Birmingham Royal Ballet Archived from the original on October 21 2013 Retrieved September 6 2009 Cariaga Daniel November 25 1974 Clifford Completes Eight Year Cycle Los Angeles Times pp E20 Songwriters Hall of Fame Songwritershalloffame org Archived from the original on January 28 2013 Retrieved March 17 2009 Special Awards and Citations The Pulitzer Prizes Retrieved March 14 2009 ESPER St Louis Walk of Fame 2002 National Recording Registry from the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress Library of Congress Retrieved September 6 2009 Joplin Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature NASA Retrieved March 8 2022 FAQ Joplin joplinapp org Retrieved November 8 2023 References editBooks edit Blesh Rudi 1981 Scott Joplin Black American Classicist In Lawrence Vera Brodsky ed Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works New York Public Library ISBN 0 87104 272 X Berlin Edward A 1994 King of Ragtime Scott Joplin and His Era Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 510108 1 via Internet Archive Crawford Richard 2001 America s Musical Life A History W W Norton amp Co ISBN 0 393 04810 1 Curtis Susan 1999 Christensen Lawrence O ed Dictionary of Missouri Biography University of Missouri Press ISBN 0 8262 1222 0 Retrieved October 2 2009 Curtis Susan 2004 Dancing to a Black Man s Tune A Life of Scott Joplin University of Missouri Press ISBN 0 8262 1547 5 Davis Francis 1995 The History of the Blues The Roots the Music the People Hyperion ISBN 0 306 81296 7 Howat Roy 1986 Debussy in Proportion A Musical Analysis Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 31145 4 Retrieved April 17 2009 Jasen David A Trebor Jay Tichenor 1978 Rags and Ragtime A Musical History New York Dover Publications Inc p 88 ISBN 0 486 25922 6 Jasen David A 1981 Discography of 78 rpm Records of Joplin Works In Lawrence Vera Brodsky ed Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works New York Public Library ISBN 0 87104 272 X Kirk Elise Kuhl 2001 American Opera University of Illinois Press ISBN 0 252 02623 3 Lawrence Vera Brodsky ed 1971 Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works New York Public Library ISBN 0 87104 242 8 Levin Floyd 2002 Classic Jazz A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 23463 5 McElhone Kevin 2004 Mechanical Music 2 ed Osprey Publishing ISBN 0 7478 0578 4 Retrieved April 16 2009 Morath Max 2005 Kirchner Bill ed The Oxford Companion to Jazz Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 518359 2 Philip Robert 1998 Rowland David ed The Cambridge Companion to the Piano Cambridge Companions to Music Illustrated reprint ed Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 47986 X Retrieved April 17 2009 Scott William B Rutkoff Peter M 2001 New York Modern The Arts and the City Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 0 8018 6793 2 Ping Robbins Nancy R 1998 Scott Joplin a guide to research Psychology Press ISBN 0 8240 8399 7 Retrieved March 20 2009 Siepmann Jeremy 1998 The Piano The Complete Illustrated Guide to the World s Most Popular Musical Instrument Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0 7935 9976 8 Ryerson Bill Joplin Scott 1973 Best of Scott Joplin a Collection of Original Ragtime Piano Compositions C Hansen Music and Books ISBN 0 8494 0581 5 Waldo Terry 1976 This Is Ragtime New York Hawthorn Books Inc ISBN 0 8015 7618 0 Whitcomb Ian 1986 After the Ball Hal Leonard Corp ISBN 0 87910 063 X Williams Martin ed 1987 The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN 0 393 99342 6 Web pages edit Berlin Edward A 1998 A Biography of Scott Joplin The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation Archived from the original on February 24 2007 Retrieved November 14 2009 Berlin Edward A 2012 Scott Joplin Brief Biographical Sketch Edward A Berlin Archived from the original on February 1 2013 Retrieved April 3 2012 Edwards Perfessor Bill 2008 Rags amp Pieces by Scott Joplin 1895 1905 Archived from the original on June 6 2009 Retrieved November 14 2009 Edwards Perfessor Bill 2010 Perfessor Bill s guide to notable Ragtime Era Composers Archived from the original on September 27 2011 Retrieved July 28 2011 ESPER Black Heritage Stamp issues Ebony Society of Philatelic Reflections Inc Retrieved November 18 2019 RedHotJazz Wilbur Sweatman and His Band Retrieved July 25 2011 St Louis Walk of Fame Inductees to the St Louis Walk of Fame St Louis Walk of Fame Archived from the original on October 31 2012 Retrieved August 17 2011 Piras Marcello 2017 Scott Joplin Silver Swan Academia edu Retrieved February 5 2019 Journals and magazines edit Albrecht Theodore Fall 1979 Julius Weiss Scott Joplin s First Piano Teacher College Music Symposium 19 2 89 105 JSTOR 40374020 Anon September 28 1974a Best Selling Classical LPs Billboard p 61 Retrieved July 29 2011 Anon May 18 1974b Hot 100 Billboard p 64 Retrieved August 5 2011 Rich Alan 1979 Music New York No December 24 1979 p 81 Retrieved August 5 2011 Further reading editDue Tananarive 2005 Joplin s Ghost New York Artria Books ISBN 0 743 44904 5 Gioia Ted 1997 The History of Jazz New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 509081 0 MaGee Jeffrey 1998 Ragtime and Early Jazz In David Nicholls ed The Cambridge History of American Music New York Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 45429 8 Palmer Tony 1976 All You Need Is Love The Story of Popular Music Book Club Associates ISBN 978 0 670 11448 1 Hasse John Edward ed 1985 Ragtime Its History Composers and Music New York Schirmer Books ISBN 0 02 871650 7 via Internet Archive Waterman Guy Ragtime In Hasse 1985 Joplin s Late Rags An Analysis In Hasse 1985 Williams Martin 1959 The Art of Jazz Ragtime to Bebop New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 306 80134 5 External links editFree scores by Scott Joplin at the International Music Score Library Project IMSLP The Mutopia Project has compositions by Scott Joplin Texas Stat Historical Association Biography of Scott Joplin The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation Joplin at St Louis Walk of Fame Archived November 25 2018 at the Wayback Machine Biography of Scott Joplin at Encyclopaedia Britannica The Easy Winners amp Other Rag Time Music of Scott Joplin adapted for violin and piano performed by Itzhak Perlman and Andre Previn Portals nbsp United States nbsp Biography nbsp Music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Scott Joplin amp oldid 1202560500, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.