"Original Rags" (copyrighted March 15, 1899) was an early
ragtime medley for
piano.
It was the first of
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...
's rags to appear in print, in early 1899, preceding his "
Maple Leaf Rag
The "Maple Leaf Rag" (copyright registered on September 18, 1899) is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent compos ...
" by half a year.
Publication history
The tune's
copyright was registered on March 15, 1899,
and it was first published by Carl Hoffman of
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
.
[Jasen, David A. (ed) Scott Joplin: Complete Piano Rags. 1988. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 1-2.] The original cover page showed an elderly black man picking up rags in front of a ramshackle cabin, and has been interpreted as a double
pun, first on the activities of a rag (or junk) picker, and second on a slang term for ragtime, "picking the piano".
[Rudi Blesh, "Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist", ''Introduction to Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works'', New York Public Library, 1981, p. xx.] The rag was given the following credits:
:::Picked By Scott Joplin
:::Arranged By Chas. N. Daniels.
It is not known whether
Charles N. Daniels actually arranged the piece, or merely transcribed it.
Joplin biographer Rudi Blesh thought it more likely that the credit to Daniels was the publisher's way of acknowledging his help in recommending the piece for publication; Blesh wrote that the music was "unmistakably Joplin" in style.
Structure
The composition has the following
musical structure:
:::Introduction AA BB CC Modulation A DD EE.
[Rudi Blesh, "Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist", Introduction to Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works, New York Public Library, 1981, p. xxi.]
The rag is not in the sequence "AA BB A CC DD" more typical of Joplin. Like the posthumously published "Reflection Rag", it features five themes, but the "Original Rag" delays reentry of the first theme until after the
modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
.
The piece is mostly in
G major except for the "C" section, which is in
C major
C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...
, and the "D" section (marked "Brilliant" in the sheet music), which is in
D major. Ragtime historians have commented on the harmonic similarity between the "D" section of "Original Rags" and the "A" section of H. O. Wheeler's "A Virginny Frolic" published by Carl Hoffman the year before.
Blesh appreciated it as "a charming and auspicious beginning to the life work of the master ragtime composer".
See also
*
Rag-picker
*
List of compositions by Scott Joplin
References
External links
Musical score and MIDI fileat the
Mutopia Project
The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. It started in 2000.Portal page at thInternet ArchiveRetrieved January 24, 20 ...
Free typeset sheet musicfrom ''Cantorion.org''.
Youtube video of "Original Rags" being played
{{Authority control
1899 compositions
Rags by Scott Joplin
Compositions for solo piano
Compositions in G major