"The Easy Winners" is a

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 ...

composition by

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 ...

. One of his most popular works, it was one of the four that had been recorded as of 1940.

Title and cover

The title of the composition is a reference to athletes who are expected to win a sporting event without difficulty. The cover depicts scenes of baseball, football, horse racing and sailing.

Musical structure

According to musicologist and Joplin biographer

Edward A. Berlin Edward A. Berlin is an American author and musicologist who is most known for his research and written works on the Ragtime artist, Scott Joplin. Berlin has written three books on this topic: ''King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era (1994)'', ' ...

, "'Easy Winners' must be judged one of Joplin's great works. It has a classical balance between its strains, its moods, and in its progression from the smooth calm of strain A to the sporadic agitation of strain D." The composition follows the structural pattern typical of many Joplin rags, although the pattern is extended to include an introduction before strain A and another before strain C, commonly called the trio. Thus, the structure reads: :Intro AA BB A Trio-Intro CC DD The introduction and strains A and B are played in

A-flat major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat minor, ...

. The second half of the composition is played in the subdominant key of

D-flat major D-flat major (or the key of D-flat) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B and C. Its key signature has five flats. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major. The D-flat major scale is: : Its r ...

. In keeping with the sports theme of the composition, Joplin begins the trio with an introduction that is reminiscent of the

first call "First Call" is a bugle call with three distinct meanings. U.S. military use At a U.S. military installation it is a pre-reveille "courtesy" signal, sounded around 05:50, originally to assemble the trumpeters to deliver the reveille that would b ...

used before a horse race.

Trio and strain D

Berlin notes that the trio is the composition's outstanding feature, revealing "musical thinking unusual for ragtime." One of Joplin's signature compositional techniques was the use of voice leading in harmonized melodic lines, particularly the use of an inner voice descending a chromatic fourth. Although Joplin often used the technique to bring resolution to individual strains, in "The Easy Winners," he builds the entire trio on the concept. The trio has four similar phrases that feature an inner voice descending from B flat to A flat, all being interrupted before spelling out a full fourth. Finally, in the last five measures of the trio, Joplin begins the phrase an extra semitone higher at C flat and completes the chromatic descent to F natural. To emphasize this chromatic descent, Joplin double-stems the notes, suggesting they be brought out in performance. Another notable feature of the trio is Joplin's use of a contrapuntal bass line. Played by the left hand in octaves in the last five measures, it heightens the complexity of the chromatic descent in the right hand and helps bring the strain to resolution. To further emphasize the importance of the trio's climactic phrase, the last five measures of the trio and D strains are identical, producing what Jasen and Tichenor call a "strong echo-like effect."

Publication history

The copyright was registered October 10, 1901. The Shattinger Music Company of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

bought the piece and published a simplified version. Only later did

John Stillwell Stark John Stillwell Stark (April 11, 1841October 21, 1927) was an American publisher of ragtime music, best known for publishing and promoting the music of Scott Joplin. Early life and education Stark was the eleventh of 12 children born to Adin S ...

publish it as-written.

References

External links