"Original Rags" (copyrighted March 15, 1899) was an early
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...
medley for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
.
It was the first of
Scott Joplin's rags to appear in print, in early 1899, preceding his "
Maple Leaf Rag" by half a year.
Publication history
The tune's
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
was registered on March 15, 1899,
and it was first published by Carl Hoffman of
Kansas City, Missouri.
[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
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
, 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.
The piece is mostly in
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable composi ...
except for the "C" section, which is in
C major, and the "D" section (marked "Brilliant" in the sheet music), which is in
D major
D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor.
The D major scale is:
:
Ch ...
. 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
The following is a complete list of musical compositions by Scott Joplin ( 1867 – April 1, 1917).
Scott Joplin was born in Arkansas in around 1867, just outside Texarkana, and was a street performer before settling in Sedalia, Missouri, St. ...
References
External links
Musical score and MIDI fileat the
Mutopia Project
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