List of compositions by Scott Joplin

The following is a complete list of musical compositions by Scott Joplin (ca. 1867–April 1, 1917).

Scott Joplin in 1903
Sheet music cover page, 1901
Sheet music cover page, 1905
Sheet cover page 1906.
Sheet music cover page, 1909
Treemonisha cover, 1911
Sheet music cover page, 1914

Scott Joplin was born in Northeast Texas in around 1867, just outside Texarkana, and was a street performer before settling in Sedalia, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, and finally New York City where he died in 1917. He was an American composer and pianist, who achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) has been recognized as the archetypal rag and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony.[1]

His finances were precarious throughout his career, despite a steady income from the "Maple Leaf Rag".[2] Joplin had the majority of his works published by John Stark of Sedalia, Missouri although he did use other lesser-known companies including his own "Scott Joplin Music Publishing Company". His first opera A Guest of Honor was lost after an unsuccessful tour in 1903. After the death of his widow, Lottie, in 1953 a number of manuscripts of unpublished work were lost and no copies of them are known to exist.[3]

When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs of Tin Pan Alley.[4] As a composer Joplin refined ragtime, developing it from the dance music played by pianists in brothels in cities like St. Louis.[5] This new art form, the classic rag, combined Afro-American folk music's syncopation and nineteenth-century European romanticism, with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos, in particular the works of John Philip Sousa.[6][7][8] With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them – without improvisation.[9] Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work which opera historian Elise Kirk described as "...more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."[10]

There are many inconsistencies between the titles of compositions, their subtitles and their respective cover titles, which was seen by the editor of the collected works as reflecting "an editorial casualness" on the part of the publishers, and indicating a genre in which many dance-steps could be performed interchangeably.[11] Many of the works cannot be dated with certainty and the pieces were not always sent to the Copyright Office for copyright registration. In many cases the publication date is the only indication of when the piece was composed.[12]

TitleFormYearCommentsNotes
Please Say You WillSong1895Lyrics by Scott Joplin [13][14]
Picture Of Her Face, AA Picture Of Her FaceSong1895Lyrics by Scott Joplin [15][16]
Great Crush Collision MarchMarch1896[17]
Combination MarchMarch1896 [17]
Harmony Club WaltzWaltz1896 [17]
Original RagsRag1899Arranged by Charles N. Daniels, although this involvement is doubtful [18][17]
Maple Leaf RagRag1899 [17]
Swipesy CakewalkCakewalk1900With Arthur Marshall [16][17]
Peacherine RagRag1901 [17]
Sunflower Slow DragRag Time Two Step1901With Scott Hayden [19][17]
Augustan Club WaltzWaltz1901 [17]
I Am Thinking Of My Pickaninny DaysSong1901Lyrics by Henry Jackson[20][17]
Easy Winners, TheThe Easy WinnersRag Time Two Step1901 [17]
Blizzard, AA Blizzard Unknown1901 Lost - unpublished. Mentioned in Indianapolis Freeman, November 16, 1901 [21][17]
CleophaMarch and Two Step1902 [17]
Breeze From Alabama, AA Breeze From AlabamaMarch and Two Step1902 [17]
Elite SyncopationsRag1902 [17]
Entertainer, TheThe EntertainerRag Time Two Step1902 [17]
March MajesticMarch1902 [17]
Strenuous Life, TheThe Strenuous LifeRag Time Two Step1902 [17]
Ragtime Dance, TheThe Ragtime DanceSong1902Lyrics by Scott Joplin [15][17]
Something DoingCakewalk March1903With Scott Hayden[19][17]
Weeping WillowRag Time Two Step1903 [17]
Little Black BabySong1903Lyrics by Louise Armstrong Bristol[20][17]
Palm Leaf RagSlow Drag1903 [17]
Guest of Honor, AA Guest of HonorRag Time Opera1903Lost[17]
Dude's ParadeExcerpt from Opera1903 Lost - unpublished. Excerpt from A Guest of Honor. Announced in the Indianapolis Freeman, September 12, 1903[22][17]
Patriotic PatrolExcerpt from Opera1903 Lost - unpublished. Excerpt from A Guest of Honor. Announced in the Indianapolis Freeman, September 12, 1903[18][17]
Maple Leaf RagSong1904Lyrics by Sydney Brown. A simplified arrangement not done by Joplin[23][18][17]
Sycamore, TheThe SycamoreConcert Rag1904 [17]
Favorite, TheThe FavoriteRag Time Two Step1904 [17]
Cascades, TheThe CascadesRag1904 [17]
Chrysanthemum, TheThe ChrysanthemumAfro-intermezzo1904 [17]
BethenaConcert Waltz1905 [17]
Binks' WaltzWaltz1905 [17]
Sarah DearSong1905Lyrics by Henry Jackson[24][17]
Rosebud March, TheThe Rosebud MarchTwo Step1905 [17]
LeolaTwo Step1905 [17]
You Stand Good with Me, BabeSong1905Lost - unpublished. Announced in Indianapolis Freeman, July 22, 1905[16][17]
Eugenia1906 [17]
Ragtime Dance, TheThe Ragtime DanceStop Time Two Step1906 [17]
AntoinetteMarch and Two Step1906 [17]
Good-bye Old Gal GoodbyeSong1906Music by H. Carroll Taylor, lyrics by Mac Darden, arranged by Joplin[25][17]
Snoring Sampson. A Quarrel in RagtimeSong1907Music & lyrics by Harry La Mertha, arranged by Joplin[19][17]
Nonpareil (None To Equal)1907 [17]
When Your Hair Is Like The SnowSong1907Lyrics by Owen Spendthrift[16][17]
Gladiolus RagRag1907 [17]
Searchlight RagSyncopated March and Two Step1907 [17]
Lily QueenRag Time Two Step1907By Arthur Marshall, edited by Joplin [26][20][17]
Rose Leaf RagRag Time Two Step1907 [17]
Heliotrope BouquetSlow Drag Two Step1907With Louis Chauvin[25][17]
Fig Leaf RagRag1908 [27]
Sugar CaneRag Time Classic Two Step1908 [27]
SensationRag1908By Joseph F. Lamb; arranged by Scott Joplin [24][27]
Pine Apple RagRag1908 [27]
School Of Rag Time - 6 Exercises For PianoExercises1908 [27]
Pleasant MomentsRag Time Waltz1909 [27]
Wall Street RagRag1909 [27][28]
SolaceMexican Serenade1909 [27]
Country ClubRag Time Two Step1909 [27]
Euphonic SoundsSyncopated Novelty1909 [27]
Paragon RagSyncopated Novelty1909 [27]
Stoptime RagRag1910 [27]
Pine Apple Rag Song1910Lyrics by Joe Snyder[15][27]
TreemonishaOpera1911 [27]
Felicity RagRag1911With Scott Hayden. May have been composed before 1903 [25][27]
Lovin' BabeSong1911Lyrics by Al. R. Turner, arranged by Joplin[20][27]
Scott Joplin's New RagRag1912 [27]
Kismet RagRag1913With Scott Hayden. May have been composed before 1903[20][27]
Real Slow Drag, AA Real Slow DragSlow Drag1913Revised excerpt from Treemonisha[27]
Prelude to Act 3Opera Excerpt1913Revised excerpt from Treemonisha[27]
Silver Swan RagRag1914Originally published only on piano roll. Sheet music published in 1971.[27]
Magnetic RagRag1914 [27]
Frolic of the BearsBallet1915Revised excerpt from Treemonisha[29][27]
Morning GloriesSong1915Lost - incomplete, and unpublished. Announced by the composer in the Indianapolis Freeman newspaper, September 4, 1915. Seen by biographer Rudi Blesh in 1950[30][27]
Syncopated JamboreeVaudeville Act1915Lost - unpublished. Announced in the Indianapolis Freeman newspaper, September 18, 1915[31][27]
Pretty Pansy RagRag1915? Lost - incomplete, and unpublished [27]
Recitative RagRag1915? Lost - incomplete, and unpublished [27]
For The Sake Of AllSong1915? Lost - incomplete, and unpublished. [27]
IfMusical Comedy1915Lost - announced in the New York Age September 7, 1916[20][27]
Symphony No. 1Symphony1916?Lost - announced in the New York Age September 7, 1916[16][27]
Piano ConcertoPiano Concerto1916?Lost - unpublished [15][27]
Reflection Rag (Syncopated Musings)Rag1917Published posthumously by Stark, likely from much older unpublished manuscripts [27]

References

  1. ↑ Blesh 1981, p. xxiii.
  2. ↑ Berlin 1994, pp. 52, 56 & 58.
  3. ↑ Berlin 1994, pp. 246-248.
  4. ↑ Curtis 2004, pp. 37-8.
  5. ↑ Whitcombe 1986, p. 24.
  6. ↑ Jasen & Tichenor 1978, p. 88.
  7. ↑ Davis 1995, pp. 67-68.
  8. ↑ Williams 1987.
  9. ↑ Scott & Rutkoff 2001, p. 37.
  10. ↑ Kirk 2001, p. 190.
  11. ↑ Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Editor's Note pix, Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works, New York Public Library, 1981.
  12. ↑ Index p. 325, Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works, New York Public Library, 1981.
  13. ↑ Berlin 1904, p. 265.
  14. ↑ Berlin 1904, p. 268.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Berlin 1994, p. 265.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Berlin 1994, p. 268.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Berlin 1994, p. 269.
  18. 1 2 3 Berlin 1994, p. 264.
  19. 1 2 3 Berlin 1994, p. 267.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Berlin 1994, p. 263.
  21. ↑ Berlin 1994, p. 260.
  22. ↑ Berlin 1994, p. 261.
  23. ↑ Berlin 1994, p. 131.
  24. 1 2 Berlin 1994, p. 266.
  25. 1 2 3 Berlin 1994, p. 262.
  26. ↑ Berlin 1994, p. 169.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Berlin 1994, p. 270.
  28. ↑ Edwards, Bill. "Rags and Pieces by Scott Joplin (1906-1917)". RAGPIANO. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  29. ↑ Berlin 1994, pp. 235, 262.
  30. ↑ Berlin 1994, pp. 235, 264.
  31. ↑ Berlin 1994, pp. 235, 268.

Bibliography

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