While a few local teachers aided him, he received most of his musical education from Julius Weiss, a German-born American Jewish music professor who had immigrated to Texas in the late 1860s and was employed as music tutor by a prominent local business family.
Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist.
His birth date was accepted by early biographers Rudi Blesh and James Haskins as November 24, 1868, although later biographer Edward Berlin showed this was "almost certainly incorrect".
There is disagreement over his exact place of birth in Texas, with Blesh identifying Texarkana, and Berlin showing the earliest record of Joplin being the June 1870 census which locates him in Linden, as a two-year-old. By 1880 the Joplins moved to Texarkana, Arkansas where Giles worked as a railroad laborer and Florence as a cleaner.
During the late 1880s, he left his job as a railroad laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician.
There is disagreement over his exact place of birth in Texas, with Blesh identifying Texarkana, and Berlin showing the earliest record of Joplin being the June 1870 census which locates him in Linden, as a two-year-old. By 1880 the Joplins moved to Texarkana, Arkansas where Giles worked as a railroad laborer and Florence as a cleaner.
As Joplin's father had played the violin for plantation parties in North Carolina and his mother sang and played the banjo, he was given a rudimentary musical education by his family and from the age of seven he was allowed to play the piano while his mother cleaned. At some point in the early 1880s, Giles Joplin left the family for another woman and Florence struggled to support her children through domestic work.
He also taught guitar and mandolin. ==Life in the southern states and Chicago== In the late 1880s, having performed at various local events as a teenager, Joplin gave up his job as a railroad laborer and left Texarkana to become a traveling musician.
While he used similar harmonic and melodic patterns the later compositions were not simple copies, but were distinctly new works, which used dissonance, chromatic sections and the blues third. ===Treemonisha=== The opera's setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin's childhood town Texarkana in September 1884.
Little is known about his movements at this time, although he is recorded in Texarkana in July 1891 as a member of the Texarkana Minstrels, who were raising money for a monument to Jefferson Davis, president of the former Confederate States of America.
He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897. Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher.
Louis, Missouri, during this time. In 1893, while in Chicago for the World's Fair, Joplin formed a band in which he played cornet and also arranged the band's music.
He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897. Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher.
Louis Dispatch as "a veritable call of the wild, which mightily stirred the pulses of city bred people." ==Life in Missouri== In 1894 Joplin arrived in Sedalia, Missouri.
He began publishing music in 1895 and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame.
Two businessmen from New York published Joplin's first two works, the songs "Please Say You Will" and "A Picture of Her Face", in 1895.
Joplin's visit to Temple, Texas enabled him to have three pieces published there in 1896, including the "Great Crush Collision March", which commemorated a planned train crash on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad on September 15 that he may have witnessed.
He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897. Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher.
By 1897, ragtime had become a national craze in U.S.
His first published rag "Original Rags" had been completed in 1897, the same year that the first ragtime work appeared in print, the "Mississippi Rag" by William Krell.
The "Maple Leaf Rag" was likely to have been known in Sedalia before its publication in 1899; Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in around 1898.
Another performance in Germany, falsely labelling itself as the German premiere, occurred on 25 April 2015 at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden under direction and choreography of . ===Performance skills=== Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well.
He began publishing music in 1895 and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame.
Berlin notes that it was unlikely that a small college for African-Americans would be able to provide such a course. In 1899, Joplin married Belle the sister-in-law of collaborator Scott Hayden.
The "Maple Leaf Rag" was likely to have been known in Sedalia before its publication in 1899; Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in around 1898.
After several unsuccessful approaches to publishers, Joplin signed a contract on August 10, 1899 with John Stillwell Stark, a retailer of musical instruments who later became his most important publisher.
Louis in early 1900, they had a baby daughter who died only a few months after birth.
Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community.
Louis Walk of Fame. 2002: a collection of Joplin's own performances recorded on piano rolls in the 1900s (decade) was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.
In 1901, Joplin moved to St.
The score to his first opera, A Guest of Honor, was confiscated in 1903 with his belongings for non-payment of bills, and is now considered lost. In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera.
By 1903 the Joplins had moved to a 13-room house, renting some of the rooms to lodgers which included pianist-composers Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden.
Biographer Berlin speculated that by 1903 Joplin was already showing early signs of syphilis which negatively affected his coordination and "pianistic skills". In June 1904, Joplin married Freddie Alexander of Little Rock, Arkansas, the young woman to whom he had dedicated "The Chrysanthemum".
Joplin used the Maple Leaf Rag as inspiration for subsequent works such as The Cascades in 1903, Leola in 1905, Gladiolus Rag in 1907, and Sugar Cane Rag in 1908.
Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community.
There is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence in the town until 1904, as Joplin was making a living as a touring musician. There is little precise evidence known about Joplin's activities at this time, although he performed as a solo musician at dances and at the major Black clubs in Sedalia, the Black 400 Club and the Maple Leaf Club.
Biographer Berlin speculated that by 1903 Joplin was already showing early signs of syphilis which negatively affected his coordination and "pianistic skills". In June 1904, Joplin married Freddie Alexander of Little Rock, Arkansas, the young woman to whom he had dedicated "The Chrysanthemum".
She died on September 10, 1904, of complications resulting from a cold, ten weeks after their wedding.
Joplin used the Maple Leaf Rag as inspiration for subsequent works such as The Cascades in 1903, Leola in 1905, Gladiolus Rag in 1907, and Sugar Cane Rag in 1908.
The score to his first opera, A Guest of Honor, was confiscated in 1903 with his belongings for non-payment of bills, and is now considered lost. In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera.
It is believed that the score for A Guest of Honor was lost and perhaps destroyed because of non-payment of the company's boarding house bill. ==Later years and death== In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City, which he believed was the best place to find a producer for a new opera.
Joplin used the Maple Leaf Rag as inspiration for subsequent works such as The Cascades in 1903, Leola in 1905, Gladiolus Rag in 1907, and Sugar Cane Rag in 1908.
Joplin used the Maple Leaf Rag as inspiration for subsequent works such as The Cascades in 1903, Leola in 1905, Gladiolus Rag in 1907, and Sugar Cane Rag in 1908.
In 1909, estimated sales would have given him an income of $600 annually (approximately $16,968 in current prices). The "Maple Leaf Rag" did serve as a model for the hundreds of rags to come from future composers, especially in the development of classic ragtime.
After his move to New York, Joplin met Lottie Stokes, whom he married in 1909.
In 1911, unable to find a publisher, Joplin undertook the financial burden of publishing Treemonisha himself in piano-vocal format.
In 1915, as a last-ditch effort to see it performed, he invited a small audience to hear it at a rehearsal hall in Harlem.
His second opera, Treemonisha, was never fully staged during his life. In 1916, Joplin descended into dementia as a result of syphilis.
All seven were made in 1916.
Biographer Blesh described the second roll recording of "Maple Leaf Rag" on the UniRecord label from June 1916 as "shocking...disorganized and completely distressing to hear." While there is disagreement among piano-roll experts as to how much of this is due to the relatively primitive recording and production techniques of the time, Berlin notes that the "Maple Leaf Rag" roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin's playing at the time.
Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist.
He was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital in January 1917 and died there three months later at the age of 48.
In January 1917, he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital, a mental institution.
Louis, he may have experienced discoordination of the fingers, tremors, and an inability to speak clearly—all symptoms of the syphilis that killed him in 1917.
Part of this diverse narrative now includes coverage of uncomfortable topics of racial oppression, poverty, sanitation, prostitution, and sexually transmitted diseases. ==Revival== After his death in 1917, Joplin's music and ragtime in general waned in popularity as new forms of musical styles, such as jazz and novelty piano, emerged.
Smith College, where he apparently studied "advanced harmony and composition." The college's records were destroyed in a fire in 1925, and biographer Edward A.
Even so, jazz bands and recording artists such as Tommy Dorsey in 1936, Jelly Roll Morton in 1939 and J.
Even so, jazz bands and recording artists such as Tommy Dorsey in 1936, Jelly Roll Morton in 1939 and J.
Russel Robinson in 1947 released recordings of Joplin compositions.
"Maple Leaf Rag" was the Joplin piece found most often on 78 rpm records. In the 1960s, a small-scale reawakening of interest in classical ragtime was underway among some American music scholars such as Trebor Tichenor, William Bolcom, William Albright and Rudi Blesh.
Audiophile Records released a two-record set, The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, The Greatest of Ragtime Composers, performed by Knocky Parker, in 1970. In 1968, Bolcom and Albright interested Joshua Rifkin, a young musicologist, in the body of Joplin's work.
Joplin's death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format; over the next several years, it evolved with other styles into stride, jazz and eventually big band swing. Joplin's music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin.
Audiophile Records released a two-record set, The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, The Greatest of Ragtime Composers, performed by Knocky Parker, in 1970. In 1968, Bolcom and Albright interested Joshua Rifkin, a young musicologist, in the body of Joplin's work.
In November 1970, Rifkin released a recording called Piano Rags on the classical label Nonesuch.
The album was nominated in 1971 for two Grammy Award categories: Best Album Notes and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra).
In 1979, Alan Rich wrote in the magazine New York that by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin's music on disc, Nonesuch Records "created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival." In January 1971, Harold C.
Vera Brodsky Lawrence of the New York Public Library published a two-volume set of Joplin works in June 1971, titled The Collected Works of Scott Joplin, stimulating a wider interest in the performance of Joplin's music. In mid-February 1973 under the direction of Gunther Schuller, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded an album of Joplin's rags taken from the period collection Standard High-Class Rags titled Joplin: The Red Back Book.
A lot of people were upset by that, but that's show biz!" On October 22, 1971, excerpts from Treemonisha were presented in concert form at Lincoln Center with musical performances by Bolcom, Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams supporting a group of singers.
Treemonisha was finally produced in full, to wide acclaim, in 1972.
Rifkin was also under consideration for a third Grammy for a recording not related to Joplin, but at the ceremony on March 14, 1972, Rifkin did not win in any category.
Finally, on January 28, 1972, T.J.
Schonberg remarked in February 1972 that the "Scott Joplin Renaissance" was in full swing and still growing.
Because of the lack of national exposure given to the brief Morehouse College staging of the opera in 1972, many Joplin scholars wrote that the Houston Grand Opera's 1975 show was the first full production. 1974 saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet under director Kenneth MacMillan create Elite Syncopations, a ballet based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era.
This was followed by the Academy Award-winning 1973 film The Sting, which featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably "The Entertainer", a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch that received wide airplay.
Vera Brodsky Lawrence of the New York Public Library published a two-volume set of Joplin works in June 1971, titled The Collected Works of Scott Joplin, stimulating a wider interest in the performance of Joplin's music. In mid-February 1973 under the direction of Gunther Schuller, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded an album of Joplin's rags taken from the period collection Standard High-Class Rags titled Joplin: The Red Back Book.
The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records: More Scott Joplin Rags in 1974 and The Road From Rags To Jazz in 1975. In 1973, film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately, asking each man to write the score for a film project he was working on: The Sting.
The Billboard Best-Selling Classical LPs chart for September 28, 1974 has the record at number 5, with the follow-up "Volume 2" at number 4, and a combined set of both volumes at number 3.
He did a tour in 1974, which included appearances on BBC Television and a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall.
The album won a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance in that year and became Billboard magazine's Top Classical Album of 1974.
The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records: More Scott Joplin Rags in 1974 and The Road From Rags To Jazz in 1975. In 1973, film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately, asking each man to write the score for a film project he was working on: The Sting.
Hamlisch lightly adapted Joplin's music for The Sting, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Adaptation on April 2, 1974.
The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records: More Scott Joplin Rags in 1974 and The Road From Rags To Jazz in 1975. In 1973, film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately, asking each man to write the score for a film project he was working on: The Sting.
In May 1975, Treemonisha was staged in a full opera production by the Houston Grand Opera.
Because of the lack of national exposure given to the brief Morehouse College staging of the opera in 1972, many Joplin scholars wrote that the Houston Grand Opera's 1975 show was the first full production. 1974 saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet under director Kenneth MacMillan create Elite Syncopations, a ballet based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era.
In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize. ==Early life== Joplin was the second of six children born to Giles Joplin, a former slave from North Carolina, and Florence Givens, a freeborn African-American woman from Kentucky.
Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community.
In 1979, Alan Rich wrote in the magazine New York that by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin's music on disc, Nonesuch Records "created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival." In January 1971, Harold C.
In 1983, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources made it the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to African American heritage.
August 1984 saw the German premiere of Treemonisha at the Stadttheater Gießen.
On 6 December 2011, the centenary of the Joplin piano score's publication, New World Records released an entirely new recording of Treemonisha.
In October 2013, Nicolás Isasi directed the premiere of Treemonisha in Argentina with a team of 60 young artists at the in Buenos Aires.
Another performance in Germany, falsely labelling itself as the German premiere, occurred on 25 April 2015 at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden under direction and choreography of . ===Performance skills=== Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well.
Retrieved February 5, 2019. ====Journals==== ==Further reading== Due, Tananarive (2005).
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