![]() If he were still alive he would be greatly delighted. Nowadays Scott Joplin has been included in listings of classical composers. Or for that matter any other composer's rags. ![]() Many people, young and old, respond with delight when I play Scott Joplin's music. I know this for sure because I play ragtime piano music. Even now people may not go out and buy his sheet music as much as they did when it first came out, the popularity of ragtime music has not really diminished that much. There are 53 solo pieces with his name on them. Over the years only his piano solos have remained popular. Joplin also wrote several ragtime songs plus two operas. Soon, hundreds of instrumentals and songs by various composers were showing up on music store shelves. And of course the Joplin pieces gave this business a huge shot in the arm. Throughout the 1890's it was slowly becoming more popular and at first most companies did not know just how popular ragtime would become.īefore long as publishing increased, there were dozens or maybe even hundreds of rag composers. The truth is ragtime piano music was basically brand new to most sheet music companies in the late 1800's. Of course Joplin had to use various publishers and did a few himself. This may have sometimes strained their relationship. Possibly Stark was not interested in a ragtime opera that Scott was working on. ![]() It seems like it would have been an advantage to have owned all of Scott's copyrights. I know he was happy! I have wondered why did he not accept all of Scott's rags? Because over the years he turned down some of Joplin's compositions. became the number one best seller in his catalog. Anyway for whatever reason, he published it, and the M. And surely he realized that Maple Leaf was a magnificent piece. One story suggests that Stark's kids pestered him into accepting it because they took a liking to Joplin. Maybe Joplin or someone else made him consider the income potential of this new style of music. What were they thinking? Even Stark did not want to publish it at first. Isn't that amazing! The Maple Leaf Rag was turned down!! Many times. in 1897 but it was turned down several times before being accepted by the John Stark Co. was not his first published ragtime piano solo. But his first actual rag to come out was Original Rags in 1899, just before the Maple Leaf was published that same year. Scott Joplin had two marches and a waltz published in1896. It really doesn't matter how good of a piano player he was because his most important gift was composition. Obviously this is where he got the name for the Maple Leaf Rag.Īccording to certain reports he played the piano very well. In Sedalia he played piano at the Maple Leaf Club (for black's only). Although for a while he was a traveling musician. In the early 1890's he moved to Sedalia Missouri. Maple Leaf firmly laid down the classic ragtime form that Scott and many more writers would use thereafter. It was a hit almost immediately selling over 70,000 copies of sheet music in about 6 months. ![]() Joplin himself knew when he wrote Maple Leaf Rag that it would make him the "King of Ragtime Composers". The classic ragtime era did not really get off to a good start until 1899 when Scott Joplin got his Maple Leaf Rag published. Mississippi Rag is interesting but not really that impressive in terms of serious classic ragtime. So the publishing of Mississippi Rag was very important to the beginnings of the classic ragtime piano music era. Of course piano rags were played before 1897 but very few if any were written down. Krell and published in 1897 has been hailed as being the first published ragtime piano solo. By the late 1890's ragtime had become very popular. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 helped introduce the American public to ragtime. ![]()
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