Editing Scott Joplin (section)

==Works==
{{Further|List of compositions by Scott Joplin}}
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Maple Leaf RagQ.ogg|title=Maple Leaf Rag|filename2=The Entertainer - Scott Joplin.ogg|title2=The Entertainer}}

The combination of classical music, the musical atmosphere present around Texarkana (including work songs, gospel hymns, spirituals and dance music), and Joplin's natural ability have been cited as contributing to the invention of [[ragtime]]: a new style that blended African-American musical styles with European forms and melodies and first became celebrated in the 1890s .<ref name=Curtis38/>

When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs "cranked out by the tune-smiths of [[Tin Pan Alley]]."<ref name=Curtis37/> As a composer, Joplin refined ragtime, elevating it above the low and unrefined form played by the "wandering honky-tonk pianists ... playing mere dance music" of popular imagination.<ref name=Whitcomb/> This new art form, the [[classic rag]], combined Afro-American folk music's [[syncopation]] and [[Romantic music|19th-century European romanticism]], with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos.<ref name=Jasen88/><ref>[[#Davis|Davis (1995) pp]]. 67–68.</ref> In the words of one critic: "Ragtime was basically...an Afro-American version of the polka, or its analog, the [[John Philip Sousa|Sousa]]-style march."<ref>[[#Williams|Williams (1987)]]</ref> With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them—without improvisation.<ref name=Scott37/> Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music in miniature form in order to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work that opera historian Elise Kirk described as "more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."<ref name="Kirk 2001 p. 190"/>

Some speculate that Joplin's achievements were influenced by his classically trained German music teacher [[Julius Weiss]], who may have brought a [[polka]] rhythmic sensibility from the old country to the 11-year old Joplin.<ref name=Tennison>{{cite web|last=Tennison|first=John|title=History of Boogie Woogie|url=http://boogiewoogie.com/index.php/history/15_contrasts_between_boogie_woogie_and_ragtime|work=Chapter 15|access-date=October 4, 2009}}</ref> As Curtis put it, "The educated German could open up the door to a world of learning and music of which young Joplin was largely unaware."<ref name=Curtis37>[[#Curtis|Curtis (2004)]] p. 37.</ref>

Joplin's first and most significant hit, the "Maple Leaf Rag", was described as the archetype of the classic rag and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years after its initial publication, thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony,<ref name="Blesh 1981 p.xxiii" /> though with the exception of [[Joseph Lamb (composer)|Joseph Lamb]] and [[James Scott (composer)|James Scott]], they generally failed to enlarge upon it.<ref name=Morath33 /> 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. While he used similar harmonic and melodic patterns,{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|page=136}} the later compositions were not simple copies but were distinctly new works, which used dissonance, chromatic sections and the blues third.{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|pages=169–170}}

===''Treemonisha''===
{{Main|Treemonisha{{!}}''Treemonisha''}}
[[File:Treemonisha cover.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Treemonisha'' (1911)]]

The opera's setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin's childhood town Texarkana in September 1884. The plot centers on an 18-year-old woman Treemonisha who is taught to read by a white woman and then leads her community against the influence of conjurers who prey on ignorance and superstition. Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her. The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader.{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|p=203}}<ref name=Crawford>[[#Crawford|Crawford (2001)]] p. 545.</ref><ref name=Christensen444/>

Joplin wrote both the score and the [[libretto]] for the opera, which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias, ensembles and choruses. In addition, the themes of superstition and mysticism evident in ''Treemonisha'' are common in the operatic tradition, and certain aspects of the plot echo devices in the work of the German composer [[Richard Wagner]] (of which Joplin was aware). A sacred tree that Treemonisha sits beneath recalls the tree that Siegmund takes his enchanted sword from in ''[[Die Walküre]]'', and the retelling of the heroine's origins echos aspects of the opera ''[[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]]''. In addition, African-American folk tales also influence the story—the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of [[Br'er Rabbit]] and the briar patch.{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|pp=203–204}}

''Treemonisha'' is not a ragtime opera—because Joplin employed the styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly, using them to convey "racial character" and to celebrate the music of his childhood at the end of the 19th century. The opera has been seen as a valuable record of rural black music from late 19th century, re-created by a "skilled and sensitive participant."{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|pp=202, 204}}

Berlin speculates about parallels between the plot and Joplin's own life. He notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw a connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance and a similar desire in the composer. In addition, it has been speculated that Treemonisha represents Freddie, Joplin's second wife, because the date of the opera's setting was likely to have been the month of her birth.{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|pp=207–208}}

At the time of the opera's publication in 1911, the ''American Musician and Art Journal'' praised it as "an entirely new form of operatic art".{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|p=202}} Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history, with its heroine "a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes, notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement."<ref>[[#Kirk|Kirk (2001)]] p. 194.</ref> Curtis's conclusion is similar: "In the end, ''Treemonisha'' offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race."<ref name=Christensen444>[[#Christensen|Christensen (1999)]] p. 444.</ref> Berlin describes it as a "fine opera, certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States," but later states that Joplin's own libretto showed the composer "was not a competent dramatist," with the book not up to the quality of the music.{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|pp=202–203}}

As Rick Benjamin, the founder and director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, found out, Joplin succeeded in performing ''Treemonisha'' for paying audiences in [[Bayonne, New Jersey]], in 1913.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203833104577070683505219416|title=Opera ''Treemonisha'' as It Was Intended To Be|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=December 6, 2011|access-date=April 26, 2015|author=Barrymore Laurence Scherer}}</ref>

===Performance skills===
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Pleasant_Moments_Piano_Roll.ogg|title="Pleasant Moments – Ragtime Waltz" – played by Scott Joplin (April 1916)|description=April 1916 piano roll recording of Scott Joplin – thought lost until discovered by a collector in New Zealand in 2006<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pianola.co.nz/pleasant_moments.htm|title=Pianola.co.nz|access-date=April 20, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803132505/http://www.pianola.co.nz/pleasant_moments.htm|archive-date=August 3, 2009}}</ref>|filename2 = Maple leaf rag - played by Scott Joplin 1916 V2.ogg|title2="Maple Leaf Rag" – played by Scott Joplin (June 1916)|description2=June 1916 piano roll recording of Scott Joplin for [[Aeolian Company|The Aeolian Company]]}}

Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a [[Sedalia, Missouri|Sedalia]] newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers [[Arthur Marshall (composer)|Arthur Marshall]] and [[Joe Jordan (musician)|Joe Jordan]] both said that he played the instrument well.<ref name="Jasen88"/> However, the son of publisher John Stark stated that Joplin was a rather mediocre pianist and that he composed on paper, rather than at the piano. [[Artie Matthews]] recalled the "delight" the St. Louis players took in outplaying Joplin.<ref>[[#J&T|Jasen & Tichenor (1978)]] p. 86.</ref>

While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved on seven [[piano roll]]s for use in mechanical [[player piano]]s. All seven were made in 1916. Of these, the six released under the Connorized label show evidence of editing to correct the performance to strict rhythm and add embellishments,<ref name=Berlin237/> probably by the staff musicians at Connorized.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pianola.co.nz/artists/minor.html |title=List of Piano Roll Artists |publisher=Pianola |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629133047/http://www.pianola.co.nz/artists/minor.html |archive-date=June 29, 2011 }}</ref> Berlin theorizes that by the time Joplin reached St. 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.{{sfnp|Berlin|1994|pp=237, 239}} 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."{{sfnp|Blesh|1981|p=xxxix}} 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,<ref>[[#Siepmann|Siepmann (1998)]] p. 36.</ref><ref>[[#CUP|Philip (1998)]] pp. 77–78.</ref><ref>[[#Howat|Howat (1986)]] p. 160.</ref><ref>[[#McElhone|McElhone (2004)]] p. 26.</ref> Berlin notes that the "Maple Leaf Rag" roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin's playing at the time. The roll, however, may not reflect his abilities earlier in life.<ref name=Berlin237>{{harvp|Berlin|1994|p=237}}</ref>