King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era

When it was first published in 1994, King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and his Era was widely heralded not only as the most thorough investigation of Scott Joplin's life and music, but also as a gripping read, almost a detective story. This new and expanded edition-more than a third larger than the first-goes far beyond the original publication in uncovering new details of the composer's life and insights into his music. It explores Joplin's early, pre-ragtime career as a quartet singer, a period of his life that was previously unknown. The book also surveys the nature of ragtime before Joplin entered the ragtime scene and how he changed the style. Author Edward A. Berlin offers insightful commentary on each of all of Joplin's works, showing his influence on other ragtime and non-ragtime composers. He traces too Joplin's continued music studies late in life, and how these reflect his dedication to education and probably account for the radical changes that occur in his last few rags. And he puts new emphasis on Joplin's efforts in musical theater, bringing in early versions of his Ragtime Dance and its precedents. Joplin's wife Freddie is shown to be a major inspiration to his opera Treemonisha, with her family background and values being reflected in that work. Joplin's reputation faded in the 1920s-30s, but interest in his music slowly re-emerged in the 1940s and gradually built toward a spectacular revival in the 1970s, when major battles ensued for possession of rights.

Table of Contents:
1. Childhood and Family Background 2. A Career before Ragtime, 1891-1896 3. Sedalia, Cradle of Classic Ragtime 4. Ragtime before Scott Joplin 5. Maple Leaf Rag, 1899-1900 6. An Approach to Musical Theater, 1899-1900 7. Emergence of the House of Classic Rags 8. King of Ragtime Writers, 1901 9. The Ragtime Dance, 1902 10. A Guest of Honor, 1903 11. Freddie, 1904 12. Final Days in the Midwest, 1905-1907 13. New York, 1907 14. Seminary Music and New Directions, 1908-1909 15. Treemonisha, 1910-1911 16. Observations about Treemonisha 17. The Elusive Production, 1911-1913 18. Final Publications, Final Years, 1914-1917 19. Legacy, Part I: Fading into Obscurity, 1918-1940 20. Legacy, Part II: Revival and Recognition, 1941-1980s Appendix A: A Scott Joplin Timeline Appendix B: The Music Appendix C: Three Songs Appendix D: Tom Ireland Letter Appendix E: Maple Leaf Club Incorporation Papers Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Edward A. Berlin, Ph.D., is a major speaker and writer in today's ragtime world. His book Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History is the most widely cited study of the subject, and his monograph Reflections and Research on Ragtime is winner of an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award.

Review :
"For those interested in Joplin beyond "The Entertainer" and "Maple Leaf Rag," Berlin's book is the starting point. Then, one can simply listen."--The American Interest "What a scrupulous historian and musicologist Mr. Berlin is, rigorously sorting through the facts of Joplin's life and era....The history of popular music needs this."--The New York Times "Not only was no stone left unturned [by Berlin], but very few pebbles are left for other scholars to pick up."--San Francisco Chronicle "The most comprehensive and accurate published source of information about Joplin and a valuable complement to Berlin's earlier book, Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History....The King of Ragtime contains every fact about Scott Joplin that could possible be unearthed....His book, a milestone in the extended Joplin revival, goes a long way toward correcting a widely disseminated misinformation."--American Music "It is a thorough and many-faceted profile of America's first black classicist and catalyst for a popular music sensation that went unabated for twenty years. Berlin's role here is not so much a biographer, but an investigative reporter....No one deserves this type of fair, admiring, intense historical and musicological research more than Joplin, one of the greatest of American composers. And no one was more up to the task of honoring him than Edward Berlin."--Notes "In telling Joplin's story, the author examines the red-light district of St. Louis, where both Joplin and the great blues composer W.C. Handy lived around the turn of the century."--The Washington Post Book WorldR "Berlin, an expert on the world of ragtime whose two previous books on it are standards, proffers a splendid new study of the acknowledged king of the music....This biography will be essential in any library concerned with American music."--Booklist "[Berlin] examines and explains Joplin's many compositions in language that even the musically untrained can understand."--JazzTimes "A state-of-the-art volume."--West Coast Rag "The most subtantial account of Joplin's life and experiences we have."--Chicago Tribune "[A] first-rate study....Black musical history has few happier endings than this celebration of the genius of Scott Joplin."--San Francisco Chronicle "Recommended for American music collections."--Library Journal "A masterful demonstration of the scholar's art, revealing previously unknown aspects of Joplin as ragtime musician, teacher, composer, and student....Enlightens as it challenges, traversing the worlds of music, culture and politics in describing Joplin's publishing arena and the cultures of prostitution, the church, the social club, and family life. The thorough discussion of Hoplin's famous "Maple Leaf Rag," of his opera Treemonisha, of the tour schedule for his first opera A Guest of Honor, and of his relationship to his second wife, are significant and alone are worth the reading of this book. King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and his Era is a major contribution to American musical scholarship."--Samuel A. Flloyd, Jr., author of The Power of Black Music "Berlin has done a dogged job of digging up what little documentary evidence exists; he even proves that Joplin had a second wife, who died shortly after their marriage....Berlin's insights into Joplin's compositional process are enlightening.....Berlin edges out the competition, thanks to his more thorough knowledge of music."--Kirkus Reviews "The most accurate and informative Joplin biography. Berlin has a sure grasp of the ragtime era....Berlin's analysis is always illuminating and expert."--Time "Berlin brings the story full circle with a comprehensive summary of the fate of ragtime from its eclipse in the 1920s and 1930s to its comeback in the 1940s and the revival of Joplin's work still going on today."--Publishers Weekly "The most thorough and useful biography yet of Scott Joplin."--The New York Times "Edward A. Berlin's meticulously researched 'King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era' is a welcome addition to the growing literature on American popular music. Berlin's careful accounting of Joplin's life, his achievements as well as his failures, is greatly enhanced by a generous array of photographs, reproductions of the covers of sheet music, programs and advertisements of events in which Joplin participated, census records, legal documents such as marriage certificates, and Joplin's music itself."--Charles Merrell Berg, Magill's Literary Annual 1995 "King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era is a comprehensive, knowledgeable biography of the composer."--On the bookshelf "At last, the most reliable biography of Scott Joplin has been expanded and updated! After more than 20 years of adding to his massive collection of data, newspaper articles, photos and serious conjectures, Ed Berlin presents the second edition, which is again more than the sum of its many parts. With a reorganization of chapters and an extra hundred pages, the story of Joplin's life and work not only brings the full scope of Ed's research into focus, but his craft of biographical writing makes it a worthy reading experience."--Ragtime Music Reviews "Recommended."--Choice "The first edition of this book was published in 1994: this second edition is a hundred pages longer. Berlin sets the biographical scene in detail, covering Joplin's early life and performing activities in vocal and instrumental groups. His analytical comments on scores, with music examples, are basic and never intimidating. He tries to disentangle legends about Joplin's activities and is candid about what he has not been able to discover. This book contains a useful chronology; a catalogue of works; and two songs not easily available elsewhere. It is most unlikely that anything further will be discovered after Berlin's tenacious research over such a long period. Anyone interested in Joplin and in the whole scene muct be unreservedly grateful." -- Musical Opinion Quarterly