![]() ![]() The opera conveys Joplin's perspective of the challenges that African Americans faced during the early 1900s and his belief that they could hasten their goal of racial equality by seeking out educational opportunities.Īt the time of Treemonisha's creation, an editor at American Musician and Art ran a lengthy review of the score from Joplin's opera in the magazine's June edition, declaring it to be the most American opera ever composed, far more so than Horatio Parker's Mona, which had just won a $10,000 Metropolitan Opera "American Opera" prize. The story line tells how Treemonisha, the only educated person in the community, breaks free from the bondage of ignorance and superstition. ![]() Joplin was a strong believer in the freeing power of education for blacks, a belief he passed along from his mother. The tale, thought to be a tribute to his mother, is set in a rural, black community in Arkansas. Treemonisha is one of two operas written by Scott Joplin, which he self-published in 1911. Since then, the festival has grown, a store has been established, and a future goal is to build a museum. In 1983 the organizers established the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation. The festival became an annual event in 1980. The first Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival was organized in 1974 by a group of Sedalia ragtime enthusiasts for fellow devotees to gather around their love of the genre. It was characterized by a strongly syncopated, or what some called a "ragged," beat - hence the origin of the term "ragtime." The music is also remembered today as a precursor of yet another uniquely American musical style: jazz. Ragtime is a popular musical style of African-American origin that developed towards the end of the 1800s and remained popular through about 1920. In the minds of many, the name Scott Joplin epitomizes ragtime. The 1973 movie The Sting brought his score of "The Entertainer" to instant popularity and regenerated interest in the ragtime genre. In 1976 the Pulitzer Committee recognized Joplin for his contributions to American music. Joplin's death was attributed to mental illness and dementia, but a contributing cause was syphilis.ĭuring his short career, he never received the acclaim he truly was due, as later critics would determine. He only saw it performed once before he died in 1917 at the age of 49. The other, Treemonisha, was a passion that consumed Joplin's life. One of the operas was lost because its copyright application was never properly recorded. But in addition to this impressive body of work, he also wrote marches, a ballet, and two operas. In all, Joplin wrote about five dozen musical compositions, of which 40 or so were piano rags. In its first year, only 400 copies sold, but by 1909, the number jumped to a half-million and that rate stayed steady for another two decades. His lawyer negotiated a royalty deal on each sale of the piece, guaranteeing him a living - although not a luxurious one - for the remainder of his life. This piano rag, thought by some to be his greatest piece, was named after one of the two Sedalia black gentlemen's clubs at which he performed. In 1899 his composition The Maple Leaf Rag caught on with the public and led to fame for Joplin. He also took jobs as a pianist in various cities, playing in cafes and saloons. With his brothers, he formed a vocal group known as the Texas Medley Quartette in the mid1890s. Joplin began a professional musical career in the early 1890s, traveling with minstrel shows and playing first coronet with a band called the Queen City Cornet Band. Joplin ended up being technically competent on piano, banjo, coronet, and violin, but his talent, ambition, and pride always lay in the realm of musical composition. The rest of his youth, through his teen years, brought him finally to Sedalia, Missouri, where he received his first piano instruction from German-born Julian Weiss, whom historians believe planted the seeds for Joplin's career as a composer. Joplin's early years were spent in Texarkana, Texas. Lore has it that he taught himself to play the piano in the white-owned homes his mother cleaned. Each year, over the first full weekend in June, the event celebrates the life and music of legendary musician and composer, Scott Joplin, whose work is more popular today than it was during his own lifetime.īorn into the musical family of ex-slave Jiles Joplin and free woman Floren Gives in 1868, Scott Joplin was one of six musically inclined progeny. The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival is an annual musical get-together held in Sedalia, Missouri. Date Observed: First full weekend in June ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |