Scott Joplin (ca. 1867–1917) was one of the most prominent and admired ragtime composers of the period (ca. 1893–ca. 1920). Starting his music career as a stage minstrel and quartet singer, he took from this experience elements that enabled him to write rags of uncommon sophistication. His Maple Leaf Rag (1899) was the period’s most famous and imitated instrumental rag and changed the direction of the genre. Although about a dozen compositions were lost (including an opera), his extant works number about forty rags, almost twenty other piano pieces and songs, an instructional manual, and an op ... More

Scott Joplin (ca. 1867–1917) was one of the most prominent and admired ragtime composers of the period (ca. 1893–ca. 1920). Starting his music career as a stage minstrel and quartet singer, he took from this experience elements that enabled him to write rags of uncommon sophistication. His Maple Leaf Rag (1899) was the period’s most famous and imitated instrumental rag and changed the direction of the genre. Although about a dozen compositions were lost (including an opera), his extant works number about forty rags, almost twenty other piano pieces and songs, an instructional manual, and an opera (the second he had composed). He was described in interviews and by those who knew him as intelligent, well spoken, dignified, and exceedingly modest. Despite his subdued manner, most of his music is spirited and lively. He died in a mental institution due to complications of syphilis. Most ragtime compositions faded quickly into obscurity in the 1920s and 1930s as other styles came to prominence, but his Maple Leaf Rag remained in the repertory. The 1940s saw a revived interest in his music and his life, the interest growing slowly through the 1960s. A spectacular, unprecedented revival of Scott Joplin's music emerged in the early 1970s. His opera Treemonisha received its first full performance, his piano rags were performed and recorded by both popular and classical artists, and he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his contribution to American music. Earnings from his music also brought nasty litigations in the 1970s–80s.