Selections from the Red Back Book
The Entertainer
The Chrysanthemum
Maple Leaf Rag
Scott Joplin (orch. Gunther Schuller)
About the Music
American composer and pianist Scott Joplin was born between July 19, 1867 and mid-January 1867 to a former slave and a free-born Black woman. He was raised in Texarkana, Arkansas and his mother took an active interest in his musical education. While there is a lack of documentation of his activities during the 1880s, it is clear that he spent time actively touring with his vocal group, the Texas Medley Quartet, most of 1893-94. In 1894 he settled in Sedalia, Missouri and joined the Queen City Cornet band, an all Black 12-piece ensemble, in which he played lead cornet. In Sedalia he attended music classes at the George R. Smith College and taught piano and composition to several young ragtime composers, including Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. He would go on to spend time in St. Louis, Missouri and ultimately moved to New York in 1907.
Dubbed the “King of Ragtime,” Joplin was one of the most prolific composers of the genre, writing over 40 original ragtime pieces and a ragtime ballet, in addition to his two operas. Unlike many, who sidelined ragtime as a “honky tonk” practice, Joplin considered it to be a form of classical music and spent his brief career nurturing the genre. His practice of combining the rhythmic patterns of Afro-American folk music and the harmonic blueprints of 19th-century European romantic music refined ragtime beyond what anyone had offered up before him. His music was described by critics as “more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era.”
Ragtime thrived as a style of popular American music from about 1869 to 1918. It gets its name from its “ragged” or syncopated rhythm. Although much of the music associated with ragtime was written for solo piano, the genre comprised other instrumental, vocal, and dance music as well. Much of the instrumental music displayed highly sophisticated musical thought and required performers to possess considerable technical facility. Virtually all rags conceived as instrumental pieces followed the formal concepts set forth by the duple- and quadruple-meter dances that predated them: the march, two-step, and polka, for example. However, in ragtime the rhythmic conventions were relaxed, and although the style was defined by its aforementioned rhythmic stereotypes, composers used departures from them to impart individuality.
Joplin issued his first piano rag, “Original Rags,” in early 1899 and soon after would publish the “Maple Leaf Rag.” The “Maple Leaf Rag” earned Joplin the type of fame that would secure his legacy for years to come and provided financial stability for his career as he obtained the service of a lawyer to negotiate a royalty contract. While its success was not immediate–it only sold 400 copies in the first year– it would go on to sell 500,000 copies by 1909. The influence of the “Maple Leaf Rag'' is unmatched; it became widely recognized as the archetypal rag for those wanting to work in the genre. Shortly thereafter, Joplin moved to St. Louis where he devoted his time to composition and teaching, instead of actively performing. Over the next few years he would write several more profoundly influential rags including “The Entertainer” and “The Chrysanthemum.”
All three of the rags you will hear tonight were originally written and published for solo piano. The “Maple Leaf Rag” has connections to Sedalia, Missouri and the Maple Leaf Club, where Joplin performed as a pianist in 1898 and 1899. It was during this time that he met the publisher John Stark, who would publish about one-third of his known works, including “Maple Leaf Rag.” Published in 1902, “The Entertainer” was subtitled “A Rag Time Two Step” and was dedicated to “James Brown and his Mandolin Club.” “The Chrysanthemum” was published in 1904 and dedicated to Freddie Alexander, whom Joplin married in June of that year.
Along with his fellow ragtime composers, Joplin reinvigorated American popular music at the turn of the century, and more importantly, fostered an appreciation of African-American music. While ragtime fell out of popularity outside of jazz in the 1920s, Joplin’s music was revived in the 1970s primarily due to Joshua Rifkin’s recording, Piano Rags by Scott Joplin. Many of Joplin’s rags, including the ones on tonight’s program, have found their way into mainstream media, including film and television commercials, making them recognizable to audiences outside of musical circles. Joplin was a true pioneer and helped pave the way for young Black artists to reach American audiences. After his death, historian Floyd Levin remarked, “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.”
Note by Christina Dioguardi