SCOOT JOPLIN

SCOOT JOPLIN

The ragtime music of black composer Scott Joplin is often seen as the American equivalent of Mozart's Austrian minuets, or Chopin's Polish mazurkas. Joplin was born in Texarkana on November 24, 1868. After learning to play the piano at home, he studied with a local German musician. At the age of 17, he moved to St Louis, where he worked as a piano player. When the World's Fair was staged in Chicago in 1893, Joplin moved there, attracted by the excitement and music. In 1894 he took music at a segregated black school, George Smith College. In 1899, he composed the "Maple Leaf Rag", which was to become the most famous of all piano rags. The piece was named after the Maple Leaf Hall, a local dance hall. On the proceeds from sheet music sales of the "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin was able to make a permanent home in St. Louis and write music full-time. Joplin dedicated himself to ragtime music. He began the composition of both a ragtime ballet called the "Ragtime Dance", and a ragtime opera, called "A Guest of Honor". He moved to New York in 1907 to continue teaching and writing. There, he made another attempt to adopt the operatic form to ragtime with his work entitled "Treemonisha". Unfortunately, he did this with dubious success. He continued to write piano rags, which remained his mainstay. Around 1917, Joplin contracted syphillus, a condition which led to his insanity. He died in a state hospital. Joplin's most well loved songs are still his piano rags like "The Entertainer" (1902), which was revived by the 1974 movie "The Sting". In 1976, Joplin became the recipient of an award for exceptional posthumous achievement from the Pulitzer Prize Committee.