Composers

Scott Joplin

1868 - 1917

About

Scott Joplin (1868 –1917), known as the King of Ragtime, was born near Linden Texas. At the age of seven, Joplin demonstrated his extraordinary talent for music. Encouraged by his parents, he was already proficient on the banjo, and was beginning to play the piano. By age eleven and under the tutelage of Julius Weiss, he was learning the finer points of harmony and style. As a teenager, he worked as a dance musician. After several years as an itinerant pianist playing in saloons and brothels throughout the Midwest, he settled in St. Louis about 1890. There he studied and led in the development of a music genre now known as ragtime--a unique blend of European classical styles combined with African American harmony and rhythm. In 1893, Joplin played in sporting areas adjacent to the Colombian Exposition in Chicago, and the following year moved to Sedalia, Missouri. From there, he toured with his eight-member Texas Medley Quartette as far east as Syracuse, New York. One of his first compositions, The Great Crush Collision, was inspired by a spectacular railroad locomotive crash staged near Waco, Texas in September of 1896. In the late 1890s, Joplin worked at the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, which provided the title for his best-known composition, the “Maple Leaf Rag”, published in 1899. “The Entertainer”, another well-known Joplin composition, was published a few years later. Over the next fifteen years, Joplin added to his already impressive repertoire, which eventually totaled some sixty compositions. In 1911, Joplin moved to New York City, where he devoted his energies to the production of his operatic work, Treemonisha, the first grand opera composed by an African American. At the time, however, this resulted unsuccessfully. After suffering deteriorating health due to syphilis that he contracted some years earlier, Joplin died on April 1, 1917 in Manhattan State Hospital.

Related Information

http://www.lsjunction.com/people/joplin.htm

Works by Scott Joplin

Title Collection Voice Type Range Poet
A Picture of Her Face Voice C4 - E5 Scott Joplin
A Real Slow Drag from Treemonisha Treemonisha Voice F#4 - Bb5 Scott Joplin
I am Thinking of my Pickanniny Days Voice C4 - Eb5 Henry Jackson
Little Black Boy Voice F4 - D5 Louise Armstrong Bristol
Maple Leaf Rag Voice D4 - Eb5 Sydney Brown
Pine Apple Rag Voice Eb4 - Eb5 Joe Snyder
Please Say You Will Voice D4 - F5 Scott Joplin
Sarah Dear Voice C4 - D5 Henry Jackson
The Ragtime Dance Voice D4 - F5 Scott Joplin
The Sacred Tree Treemonisha Treemonisha Voice E4 - Ab5 Scott Joplin
When Your Hair is Like the Snow Voice D4 - E5 Owen Spendthrift
Title Published Size Solo with Ensemble Duration Range Level Orchestration
Maple Leaf Rag Yes Full Orchestra Under 5 Professional 1(picc)010-0111-perc-pf-str
Ragtime Dance Yes Full Orchestra Under 5 Professional 1(picc)010-0111-perc-pf-str
The Entertainer Yes Full Orchestra Under 5 Professional 1(picc)010-0111-perc-pf-str
Composer Title Work Instrumentation Level Number of Movements Accompanied Size Duration Range
Scott Joplin A Breeze from Alabama (March and Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Antoinette (March and Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Bethena (Concert Waltz) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Binks' Waltz Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Cleopha (March and Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Combination March Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Elite Syncopations Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Eugenia Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Harmony Club Waltz Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Heliotrope Bouquet (A Slow Drag Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Lily Queen (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Peacherin Rag Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Pleasent Moments (Ragtime Waltz) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Rag-Time Dance (A Stop-Time Two Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Sensation (A Rag) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Something Doing (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Sun Flower Slow Drag (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Swipesy (Cake Walk) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Augustan Club (Waltzes) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Cascades (A Rag) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Chrysanthemum (An Afro-American Intermezzo) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Crush Collision March Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Easy Winners (A Ragtime Two-step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Entertainer (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Favorite (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Rose-Bud March Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Strenuous Life (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin The Sycamore (A Concert Rag) Piano 1 No Solo
Scott Joplin Weeping Willow (A Ragtime Two-Step) Piano 1 No Solo