SCOTT JOPLIN (1868-1917), known as the "King of Ragtime" by later generations, was born in a musical family in Texas. His father was a violinist. , my mother can play the banjo, and my two brothers, one is good at violin and piano, and the other has a good singing voice. Joplin learned to play the piano as a child. Under the free teaching of a German musician next door, Joplin learned music theory and notation, and was exposed to the works of European music masters in his childhood. For black musicians who generally lacked professional training and learning at that time, Joplin Pulin had a lucky childhood.
The difficult family situation forced Joplin to go out and make a living by performing as a busker when he was just entering his youth. During his wanderings, he became familiar with various folk music of black people.
In 1895, Joplin came to St. Louis, which became his main place of residence. The black district of St. Louis was already quite large at that time. Among them, the famous Chestnut Street and Market Street were famous for their brothels and bars. Joplin was hired to play piano at the Silver Dollar Bar here. The owner of the "Silver Dollar" is local celebrity John Turpin, who is nicknamed "The Honest Man" and loves ragtime music. Therefore, the "Silver Dollar" has become a good place for musicians from all over the world to gather and compare skills. This is an eclectic way for Joplin to learn from others Guarantees are provided. After his playing career with the Silver Dollar, Joplin had become a great figure in ragtime music.
Joplin spent 10 years in St. Louis and other cities in Missouri. He played the piano, organized choruses and bands, and began writing books. He toured with his Texas Mixed Singing Quartet to familiarize the public with his work and hope to gain the attention of publishers. During this period, Joplin published a number of songs and instrumental pieces. These pieces were basically works in the traditional sense, but Joplin already used syncopation techniques when playing them, except when notating them. He used traditional methods and omitted syncopation because he feared publishers would not accept the new musical form.
A year later Joplin settled in the small town of Sedalia, where he studied composition and harmony while playing piano at the Maple Leaf Club. By 1898, ragtime music had become popular across the United States, and Joplin's syncopated works finally had the opportunity to be published. His "Real Ragtime Collection" was published in March 1899. In the same year, a white publisher, Stark, heard a piece of ragtime played by Joplin at the Maple Leaf Club and liked it very much, so he used I bought the copyright for 50 US dollars, and this song became the "Maple Leaf Rag" that was passed down to future generations. The technically demanding "Maple Leaf Raga" is a must-play song for every ragtime musician in later generations, ushering in a new era for syncopated piano playing. The collaboration between Stark and Joplin also began with this song. In the following years, the two selected repertoire according to high standards and released a large number of ragtime music masterpieces. Starck thus became the most important ragtime music publisher in the United States at that time.
In the first 10 years after its publication, "Maple Leaf Rag" sold hundreds of thousands of music scores, which greatly increased Joplin's ambition. He stopped playing the piano and returned to St. Louis to specialize in piano music. Engaged in creative writing and teaching. In 1903, he performed the opera "The Guest of Honor" written in ragtime, and that year he also performed "Ragtime Dance", a dance poem recitation with music composed by himself, which was very popular. This inspired his desire to compose grand operas. In 1911, his magnificent second opera "Tremonissa" was completed. However, the publisher was skeptical about whether this masterpiece could be profitable. As a last resort, Joplin had to publish this multi-story opera at his own expense. A piano score of 230 pages. The famous Ragette
Self-publishing the score caused Joplin a huge financial blow. He no longer had the ability to fully display this masterpiece on the stage. In the end, he reluctantly compressed "Trimonissa" into an operetta performed in concert.
In 1915, a compressed version of "Tremonissa" had its first and last performance in a concert hall in Harlem, New York. The performance seemed too shabby, the actors had no money for makeup, and the stage had no scenery and The lights were on, and there was no orchestra. The only accompanist was Joplin, who replaced the entire orchestra with a piano solo. The performance ended, and the audience's lukewarm response proved that the performance was a complete failure.
The debacle of "Tremonissa" devastated Joplin. But bad luck did not spare this musical genius. In 1914, he began to realize that he was infected with syphilis, so he began to speed up his creative process. In the last few years of his life, Joplin has been racing against death. He kept publishing new Ragtime works, but unfortunately, in the end, fate still did not spare him. In 1917, the music master eventually died of complications from syphilis, when he was less than 50 years old. Because he died too early, he did not leave any recordings, but like many classical musicians only left behind music scores. Joplin also left several recordings on tape piano. Even if we restore them now, you won't be able to hear all of Joplin's emotions back then. This has to be said to be a pity.