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    Scott Joplin

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    Yana Fishka
    Scott Joplin was an African American musician and composer in the late 19th/early 20th century known as the "King of Ragtime." He wrote 44 original piano rags and two operas, popularizing the ragtime genre that combined classical music structures with African American folk rhythms and melodies. Joplin studied music composition formally and published his first major ragtime hit "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899. Though he gained respect from critics, as a black composer he struggled for recognition and financial backing for his works. Joplin spent time in major cities like St. Louis and New York seeking success, but faced setbacks including health issues, and he died in poverty in 1917 before his opera "

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    Scott Joplin

    Uploaded by

    Yana Fishka
    23 views4 pages
    Scott Joplin was an African American musician and composer in the late 19th/early 20th century known as the "King of Ragtime." He wrote 44 original piano rags and two operas, popularizing the ragtime genre that combined classical music structures with African American folk rhythms and melodies. Joplin studied music composition formally and published his first major ragtime hit "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899. Though he gained respect from critics, as a black composer he struggled for recognition and financial backing for his works. Joplin spent time in major cities like St. Louis and New York seeking success, but faced setbacks including health issues, and he died in poverty in 1917 before his opera "

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    Scott Joplin was an African American musician and composer in the late 19th/early 20th century known as the "King of Ragtime." He wrote 44 original piano rags and two operas, popularizing the ragtime genre that combined classical music structures with African American folk rhythms and melodies. Joplin studied music composition formally and published his first major ragtime hit "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899. Though he gained respect from critics, as a black composer he struggled for recognition and financial backing for his works. Joplin spent time in major cities like St. Louis and New York seeking success, but faced setbacks including health issues, and he died in poverty in 1917 before his opera "

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    23 views4 pages

    Scott Joplin

    Uploaded by

    Yana Fishka
    Scott Joplin was an African American musician and composer in the late 19th/early 20th century known as the "King of Ragtime." He wrote 44 original piano rags and two operas, popularizing the ragtime genre that combined classical music structures with African American folk rhythms and melodies. Joplin studied music composition formally and published his first major ragtime hit "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899. Though he gained respect from critics, as a black composer he struggled for recognition and financial backing for his works. Joplin spent time in major cities like St. Louis and New York seeking success, but faced setbacks including health issues, and he died in poverty in 1917 before his opera "

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    Introduction

    Scott Joplin was a musician and composer (компоуза). He is considered the “King of
    Ragtime.” Ragtime is music played in “ragged”(регід) or off-the-beat time. This
    varied rhythm developed from African American work songs, gospel tunes (т’юнс),
    and dance. Joplin wrote forty-four original piano pieces or rags, two operas, and one
    ragtime ballet (балей). He also co-wrote seven rags with other composers.

    Early Years
    Scott Joplin was born around 1868 in northeastern Texas (тексис). He was the second
    of six children born to Giles and Florence Joplin. His family lived for a while on the
    farm of William Caves, but moved to Texarkana (тексакана), Texas, in the 1870s.
    His father worked as a laborer (лейбора), and his mother was a house cleaner and
    laundress (лоундрес). Joplin learned to play piano at an early age on the piano of his
    mother’s employer. He also took lessons from a German-born music teacher named
    Julius Weiss. Joplin’s parents were both very musical. His father played the violin
    (вайлін), and his mother sang and played the banjo (бенджо).
    Joplin began performing as a musician when he was a teenager. In addition to the
    piano, Joplin played the violin and cornet. He also sang well. Sometime in the 1880s,
    Joplin left Texarkana and traveled to many places. He probably spent time in
    Sedalia(седейя), Missouri (мезурі), attending Lincoln High School. He also went to
    St. Louis where he met Tom Turpin, another ragtime musician. Joplin played a variety
    of music, combining traditional western forms such as the waltz (волц) and march
    with melodies and rhythms borrowed from African American songs.
    In 1893 Joplin traveled to Chicago at the time of the World’s Fair. He led and played
    the cornet in a band that played outside the fairgrounds. (феаграундс) There he met
    musician Otis Saunders, who encouraged him to write down and publish the songs he
    had been making up as he entertained his audiences.(одієнсис)

    Music Training in Sedalia

    Scott Joplin moved to Sedalia, a busy railroad town in Missouri, in 1894. Here Joplin
    joined the Queen City Cornet Band and performed in local clubs. Using Sedalia as a
    home base, he continued to travel around the country with various musical мюзікал
    groups. In 1896 he enrolled at the George R. Smith College to study music seriously
    and to develop the skill of transferring musical sounds into notes recorded on a page
    that other musicians could then play.
    Joplin quickly learned how to write down the vibrant(вайбрент) melodies and
    complex rhythms he and his fellow musicians had been developing. He then published
    several original compositions and also started co-writing songs with Sedalia
    musicians Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden.
    Scott Joplin soon became a popular and respected musician in Sedalia. In 1899, a
    local music store owner and music publisher named John Stark printed Joplin’s song
    “Maple Leaf Rag.” Immediately popular, this song featured(фітчід) a pleasing
    melody and a catchy beat. It became a classic model of ragtime music and thrust
    Joplin into the national spotlight. Eventually, this rag and many others earned Joplin
    the title “King of Ragtime Writers.”

    High Hopes in St. Louis


    Trying to build on the success of “Maple (мейпл) Leaf Rag,” Scott Joplin and his
    bride, Belle Jones, moved to St. Louis in 1901. John Stark had already moved there,
    and Hayden and Marshall came, too. Joplin and his friends hoped to become
    successful performers and composers in this urban center. With their presence, St.
    Louis became a focal point for this special kind of music.
    Joplin devoted most of his time and energy to composing new pieces and teaching
    music lessons. He wrote and published many new works, including an opera and
    ballet, while living in St. Louis. His ragtime compositions gained the attention of
    classically trained musicians and critics. Alfred Ernst, conductor of the St. Louis
    Choral Symphony Society, described Joplin as “an extraordinary genius дженієс.”
    Monroe Rosenfield, a respected music critic for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat,
    praised Joplin’s work highly.
    Despite this respect and his popularity, Joplin was like many other African American
    musicians of that time period. He was praised, but not fully included in white society.
    He performed places where other members of his race had limited access. Though
    Joplin’s popular rags were published, he had trouble raising money to produce the
    works that he cared most deeply about—his longer and more complicated
    compositions.
    Scott Joplin’s private life also became troubled. He suffered the loss of an infant
    child, his first marriage ended, and his second wife, Freddie Alexander, died shortly
    after they were married in 1904. By late 1907, Joplin had left St. Louis and moved to
    New York City. He hoped that this city would offer him new opportunities and the
    solid financial backing he needed to continue his work.
    Ragtime in New York City
    New York City offered Scott Joplin new experiences. Here he performed in
    vaudeville shows and wrote new songs. John Stark also moved to the city and set up
    his publishing business in a district called Tin Pan Alley. Joplin maintained his
    relationship with Stark, but also branched out with other publishers. He married again,
    this time to Lottie Stokes, who supported his work and efforts. Joplin still worked
    very hard for very little pay. He toiled for years on a major piece, a second opera
    titled Treemonisha.(тріменша)
    Between 1911 and 1915, he put on a series of unstaged run-throughs and partial
    (пашил) performances of Treemonisha, but the opera failed to gain financial backing
    for a full production. By this time, Joplin was suffering from a disease (дезІз) that
    made it difficult for him to compose and perform as he always had. Sick, discouraged,
    and poor, Scott Joplin died on April 1, 1917. He is buried (берід)in Saint Michael’s
    Cemetery in New York City.

    Treemonisha
    Treemonisha is considered the first grand opera written by an African American
    composer. Scott Joplin composed this opera, his second, between 1906 and 1910. Set
    after the Civil War on a Texas plantation, the opera tells the story of a young,
    educated black woman who helps free her people from ignorance ігноренс and
    superstition сюпестишн. Joplin never saw a full production of Treemonisha. In
    January 1972, Morehouse College and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta,
    Georgia, produced the opera with an African American cast.

    Although the initial production of Treemonisha received a great deal of praise from
    critics, it also drew criticism from some reviewers. See Byron Belt, “Scott Joplin’s
    Almost Forgotten Opera, ‘Treemonisha.’” Kansas City Star. August 20, 1972. p. 2F.

    Joplin's Legacy
    Scott Joplin played an essential role in the development of ragtime music. His work
    also laid the groundwork for jazz, another distinctly American musical form. Through
    his performances and compositions, Joplin gave the world a unique form of music that
    combines classical structures and techniques with African American melodies and
    rhythms. He also opened the door for other black musicians and artists to succeed in a
    racially segregated nation.
    Today, museums preserve Joplin’s memory and educate people about his
    contributions. His work was revived in the 1940s and more fully explored and
    promoted in the 1970s. A 1973 movie, The Sting, made his song “The Entertainer” a
    popular hit. His opera Treemonisha was finally fully produced, and in 1976 the
    Pulitzer Committee awarded Joplin a special Bicentennial Pulitzer Prize for his
    contribution to American music. Sedalia, Missouri, calls itself “The Cradle of
    Ragtime” and honors Joplin’s life and work with its annual “Scott Joplin Ragtime
    Music Festival.” Fans from around the world attend the festival to honor this great
    musician.

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