Revisiting the King of Ragtime
When recently asked to perform selections of Scott Joplin I decided it was time to revisit the iconic composer before deciding on the repertoire. While he didn’t invent ragtime, Joplin achieved enormous success and fame as the Ragtime King after composing the Maple Leaf Rag, the most popular and influential hit of its day. He was only 48 years old when he died, and his sparkling, syncopated rhythms that had captivated listeners were already fading in popularity as the public turned its attention to stride piano and other, newer forms of jazz. Ironically, Joplin never thought of his music as jazz. For him, it was classical music, and he was a classical composer melding Afro-American music with European romanticism into a new art form. He provided detailed instructions regarding tempo and performance techniques for the “miniatures” he composed. Each piece was to be performed exactly as he had written – without improvisation. It was recognition as a composer who refined and elevated ragtime beyond the cheap dances and songs heard in honky-tonks of the red light districts that Joplin wanted most.
Joplin was intelligent, well mannered and well-spoken, but a quiet and serious man who profoundly believed in education and its power to eradicate racial inequality. But the details of his life aren’t clear. As far as we know, he was most probably born near Texarkana, Texas around 1868. His father was a former slave who worked as as a laborer, and his mother was a maid. As a child, he taught himself the piano on an instrument in one of the white owned homes where she worked. He was surrounded by work songs, gospel hymns, spirituals and dance music until Julius Weiss, a German born music teacher, took an interest in the boys talent, and tutored him without charge and even helped the family acquire a piano of their own. Weiss influenced Joplin by introducing him to folk music, the classical European traditions and opera, which proved to be the foundation of his career. Joplin remained a loyal friend to his teacher for the rest of his life, helping to support Weiss in his later years.
By his early teens, Joplin left home to tour the honky tonk and brothels along the Mississippi River as a traveling minstrel. He appeared at Chicago’s World Fair of 1893, which is credited for helping make ragtime a national craze. He moved to Sedalia, Missouri in 1894 and whenever not on the road, he would return there to teach music, form his own bands, and play solo piano at the towns two black social clubs – the Black 400 and the Maple Leaf. In 1896 he published two marches and a waltz, and decided to publish his first two piano rags in 1898. Only one was sold, titled The Original, but Joplin had been cheated, forced to add an additional name to the copyright as a term of the deal. After seeking the advice of a lawyer and approaching numerous other publishers, Joplin agreed to the publication of the Maple Leaf Rag with a music retailer for to a 1% royalty on all sales, a minimum price of 25 cents, and a prominent inscription to the Maple Leaf Club appearing on the sheet music. Sales only totaled $400 during the first year, but by 1909 over a half million copies had been sold, providing Joplin with a living income. It was the first instrumental sheet music mega hit of America, and it literally catapulted Joplin’s career. In all, he created 40 of his original ragtime miniatures, the music he’s best known, and loved for.
Joplin also composed two operas during his life. Around 1904, he created a company of 30 people to produce the national tour of his first opera, A Guest of Honor. Little is known whether it was an all black or racially mixed production, or where and how many performances were actually staged. But it is generally accepted that while on tour, the box office receipts were stolen by someone within the company, leaving Joplin unable to meet the company’s payroll or expenses. The score is thought to be lost or destroyed due to nonpayment of the company’s boarding house bill.
By 1909 Joplin went to New York in search of financing for an opera which he had been writing both the score and libretto for. Treemonisha tells the story of a young plantation heroine, the only educated member of her community, who led led them to defy those who were preying on their ignorance and superstition. She is abducted, and her life imperiled until her friend Remus comes to her rescue. Now that they realize the value of education, and the cost of their ignorance, her community chooses her as both their teacher and leader. But Treemonisha was not a ragtime opera, it draws upon European forms of opera with allusions to Wagner and the African American folktale Brer’ Rabbit. Joplin only sparingly employs ragtime and other styles of black music. Investors weren’t interested in Joplin’s allegory for achieving racial equality through education, either. In 1911 he decided to publish it himself in a piano and vocal format. He also self published his Magnetic Rag in 1914. As he became aware of the advancing deterioration resulting from syphillis that he had contracted 20 years earlier, Joplin poured all of energies into orchestating Treemonisha and creating the full score. His only opportunity to see it performed would be in 1915 at a rehearsal hall in Harlem with a small audience and potential backers. The poorly staged production had only Joplin’s piano accompaniment, and was described as “a miserable failure”. Joplin, now bankrupt, discouraged, and suffering from dementia and the loss of the control of his hands, was hospitalized in January of 1917. He died penniless in a mental institution in NYC on April 1, and buried in a paupers grave that remained unmarked for over 50 years.
It was recognition as a classical composer that Joplin wanted most, but would never achieve during his lifetime. “When I’m dead twenty-five years, people are going to recognize me,” he told a friend. Today he’s known worldwide as an important American composer of 40 original ragtime pieces, a ragtime ballet and two operas. He integrated the sounds of African-Americans into popular music and insured that Ragtime would always remain a living part of our musical heritage. He also helped to pave the way for young Black artists to reach American audiences both as a composer and a performer. We know him best for those 40 original piano miniatures of his, which define him and continue to endear audiences worldwide. Joplin was never recorded, but his playing survives on a few piano rolls. So I’ve selected a few of my favorite recordings to share with you. Take a moment to listen to the Maple Leaf Rag, his first published rag and the most famous, and Solace which is my favorite.