The Ragtime Music Of Scott Joplin
The Creation of Unique American Opera and Piano Music
Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was born in the the town of Texarkana which straddled the border between Northeast Texas and Arkansas. His parents had been slaves and were both very musical. Joplin showed such an aptitude for music a local German music teacher offered to teach him classical music free of charge.
The Life of Scott Joplin
After leaving his hometown Joplin roamed middle America as an itinerant pianist before permanently settling in Sedalia Missouri in 1894 in order to enroll in the newly opened Smith College for Negroes. It was in Sedalia that Joplin would compose most the ragtime piano pieces which would make him famous during his lifetime.
After spending a decade in Sedalia composing, teaching and performing Joplin moved to St. Louis Missouri where some of the most talented ragtime performers worked. Joplin himself was only a competent pianist but he had the ability to incorporate the styles of various pianists into his notated compositions. After living a few years in St. Louis and elsewhere Joplin moved to New York City in order to get his Opera, Treemonisha produced.
Scott Joplin's Rags
Prior to his success as a ragtime composer Joplin composed fine but generic music for Victorian audiences. In 1897 at the age of thirty he published his first ragtime piece, Original Rags, in Kansas city. This piece was a formally complex work compared to the other published rags of his time and did not sell well. In 1899 he published another ragtime piece, this time with a music store dealer in Sedalia Missouri where Joplin had permanently settled.
Like Original Rags, Maple Leaf Rag was a complex piece but exiting enough to be profitable. It sold well enough to make his publisher John Stark happy and provide Joplin with enough income to live of it's royalties.
Many fine ragtime pieces were published by others during Joplin's lifetime but his stand out due to the consistently high quality of the music. Joplin sought to smooth out the crudities of ragtime and present it as a high art form instead of a folk art form. This is demonstrated best in Joplin's collaborative works with other ragtime composers (such as Louis Chauvin) who had no formal musical education.
After the success of Maple Leaf Rag Joplin published a couple dozen more rags including The Entertainer, Pineapple Rag and Fig Leaf Rag. All of these are of a consistent high quality but non were nearly as successful as Maple Leaf Rag. Besides ragtime compositions Joplin wrote songs, marches, waltzes, a tango, a ballet and 2 operas based on ragtime music.
Scott Joplin's Vision
During it's heyday, Ragtime was often associated with the disrepoutable aspects of African American society by white America. Prior to 1897, when the first ragtime pieces were published, ragtime was an underworld music played in saloons and brothels of the American Midwest, South and Northeast. Joplin sought to disassociate himself and ragtime from these origins and have ragtime known as a nationally accepted art form. This is a vision Joplin would achieve, but posthumously.
Joplin spent the last few years of his life composing an Opera demonstrating his vision for African American society. The Opera, Treemonisha is a semi-autobiographical work set in the wilderness of Arkansas. Monisha is born under a tree in the wilderness of Arkansas and early in her life Monisha leaves her community because she is offered an education by whites. Monisha is disturbed when she returns to find her community still believing in superstitions such as conjuring and decides it's her duty to lead her community out of ignorance.
Scott Joplin became broke trying to get his Opera produced. When it was finally produced by Joplin himself it flopped due to an insufficient stage production. By the time Treemonisha was produced Joplin was already sick with syphilis. He would die soon after in a mental institution.
Scott Joplin 1904
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