Scott Joplin, known as “The King of Ragtime,” was a prolific and powerful contributor to American music. He was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1976. Joplin’s musical career began in minstrel shows and he eventually settled in Sedalia, Missouri, where he released his famous “Maple Leaf Rag.” He continued to publish rags and eventually released his work, Treemonisha, in 1911. Joplin died of tertiary syphilis in 1917.
Scott Joplin is a name well recognized by ragtime music lovers. He is often referred to as “The King of Ragtime” and his contribution to American music is prolific and powerful. Scott Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his outstanding achievement in American music. Today, Sedalia, Missouri is known for its annual Scott Joplin Festival.
Joplin’s father was a slave who became a laborer. His mother worked in white-owned homes, and it was here that Scott Joplin first had access to a piano. Later, Julius Weiss, a German-born Texarkana music teacher, taught Joplin how to play European opera and classical music.
He began his musical career working in minstrel shows in Texarkana in 1891 and also as a bandleader and cornetist in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair. Scott Joplin settled in Sedalia, Missouri and played in black bands. Her band, the Texas Medley Quartet, sang in Syracuse, New York in 1895. During this time, Joplin had her songs “A Picture of Her Face” and “Please Say You Will” released.
Joplin continued to travel and play music and piano regularly in Sedalia. After releasing a waltz and two marches, he eventually released “Maple Leaf Rag” in 1899. Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” became one of the best known and most popular piano pieces of all time. Joplin released “Ragtime Dance” and “Swipsey,” also spelled “Swipesy,” in 1900 before moving to St. Louis.
In St. Louis, Scott Joplin continued his career as a ragtime pianist with nine published pieces in 1901 and 1902. In 1903, he toured the Midwest with his play A Guest of Honor. Joplin ended up in severe financial devastation after someone from his company stole the box office takings of his play. He continued to publish rags from 1903 to 1914 and published another work, Treemonisha, in 1911.
Treemonisha is the work of Scott Joplin praising his mother for helping him start his interest in music. Treemonisha’s heroine learns to play the piano while her mother works in a white-owned house, just like in Joplin’s childhood. Scott Joplin’s date of birth and place of birth are disputed, but it is thought to be November 24, 1868 and located near Linden, Texas. Joplin died of tertiary, or advanced, syphilis on April 1, 1917.
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