From Publishers Weekly
Although he did not invent ragtime, Joplin (1868-1917) is the best-known exponent of this type of jazz, with its characteristic syncopated rhythms. Berlin (Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History) shows how Joplin launched his career in the black social clubs of Sedalia, Mo.; achieved success with the Maple Leaf Rag; and went on to win the respect of whites as well as his fellow African Americans, composing numerous rags and two operas, A Guest of Honor (now lost) and Treemonisha. Joplin, whose father was born into slavery, aspired to transcend his humble origins, but because details of his personal history are elusive, Berlin's conclusions about Joplin's often unhappy life and personal relationships tend to be speculative. The author lands on solid ground, however, with his analysis of Joplin's sophisticated and innovative compositions, demonstrating clearly how he expanded the language of ragtime. In the final chapter, 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. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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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, a life-and-works that exhaustively details the particulars of Joplin's biography. Berlin places the composer squarely in context, from his childhood in Texarkana, and his life in Sedalia (Missouri) and St. Louis, through his troubled last years in New York, during which he attempted, without success, to stage his grand opera,
Treemonisha. Berlin is enabled in his task by newly discovered documentation that allows him to replace with reliable facts the myths and unsupported anecdotes previously used in the composer's biography. Among the discoveries are the true identity of the titular heroine of Joplin's operaa woman Joplin loved and lost to deathand the revelation that Joplin collaborated with Irving Berlin: Joplin apparently believed Berlin's hit Alexander's Ragtime Band was based on materials plagiarized from his work. Essential in any library concerned with American music.
John Shreffler
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