Scott Joplin

Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin House

Bethena

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Scott Joplin Memorial bench 20200806 110917

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Treemonisha cover

Scott Joplin (c. November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist, widely regarded as the "King of Ragtime". Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime Writers". During his brief career, he wrote over 100 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", has been recognized as the archetypal rag.

Early Life

Scott Joplin was born into a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Texas, and grew up in a community that included a significant number of African American families. His father was a former slave, and his mother was a freeborn woman from Kentucky. Joplin was given a rudimentary musical education by his family and neighbors. He showed early talent and was able to play the piano by ear. Joplin received further music education from Julius Weiss, a German music teacher who recognized Joplin's musical talent and tutored him for free.

Career

In the late 1890s, Joplin left his job as a laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician. He settled in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894, where he studied music at the George R. Smith College for Negroes. It was during this time that Joplin composed some of his earliest works. In 1899, Joplin sold his first piece, the "Original Rags", and then in 1899, he published his "Maple Leaf Rag", which became a ragtime classic. This piece brought him fame and a steady income, with the sales of the sheet music making him one of the earliest African American composers to receive royalties for his compositions.

Joplin moved to St. Louis in 1901, where he continued to compose and publish music. He also collaborated with other musicians and published a ragtime opera, "A Guest of Honor", which is now lost. In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City in an attempt to find a producer for a new opera. He continued to compose music, including his opera "Treemonisha", which was not fully staged during his lifetime.

Legacy

Scott Joplin's music was largely forgotten by the mainstream after his death in 1917. However, a resurgence of interest in ragtime in the early 1970s, notably due to the release of the album "Scott Joplin: Piano Rags" by Joshua Rifkin in 1970, and the use of Joplin's music in the 1973 film "The Sting", brought his work back to public attention. Joplin's compositions, characterized by their complex syncopation and rhythmic patterns, have since been recognized as a significant part of the American musical landscape.

Joplin's work has been posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and he has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Classical Music Hall of Fame. His opera "Treemonisha" was finally staged in full in 1972 and has been performed numerous times since.

See Also

• Ragtime
• African American music
• Music of the United States