1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:08,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: a show that strives to know at least a little 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:17,799 Speaker 1: bit more history every day. I'm Gabeluzier, and today we're 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: celebrating the life and work of ragtime pianist Scott Joplin. 6 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: The day was September eighteen. Musicians Scott Joplin was granted 7 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: the copyright for a song he wrote called the Maple 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: Leaf Rag. It quickly became one of the most famous 9 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: and influential pieces of the ragtime era, and a steady 10 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: source of income for Joplin for the rest of his life. 11 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: More than five hundred thousand copies of the sheet music 12 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: were sold in just the first ten years after its publication. 13 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: Joplin earned a one cent royalty on each of those sales, 14 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: or about five thousand dollars over the course of a decade. 15 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: That may not sound like much, but adjusting for inflation, 16 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: it's the equivalent of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars today. 17 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: If nothing else, the annual income from that one song 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: would have been enough to cover Joplin's yearly living expenses, 19 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: so not a bad deal. In fact, when you crunch 20 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: the numbers, it's impressive. How good a deal Joplin was 21 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: able to negotiate with his publisher, a man named John Stark. 22 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: At the time and even today, in some cases, most 23 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: composers make money from their performances, not from their compositions. 24 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: Joplin's arrangement was unusual in that sense, and even more 25 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: so since he was a black musician working in the 26 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,639 Speaker 1: Jim Crow South. The deal he made with Stark shows 27 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: that both men knew the song would be a hit, 28 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: and in fact, Joplin said as much himself before it 29 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: was even published. He told a friend, quote, the maple 30 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: Leaf will make me the king of ragtime composers, And yeah, 31 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: he called it. The maple Leaf Rag was a monster success. 32 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: It launched a ragtime craze across the country. Suddenly, composers 33 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: were churning out hundreds of rags that imitated its sound, 34 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: eager to capture even a fraction of Joplin's success. To 35 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: be clear, though Joplin didn't invent ragtime. There were plenty 36 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: of other composers writing that style of music in the 37 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties, but Joplin brought a level of imagination and 38 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: complexity to his rags that was new for the genre. 39 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: Ragtime music grew out of minstrel shows and was characterized 40 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: by its syncopated or offbeat ragged rhythms in the late 41 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: nineteenth and early twenty cent reas. You could hear it 42 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: being played by black musicians throughout the Midwest, but it 43 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: wasn't taken seriously anywhere else. Joplin was convinced that ragtime 44 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: could have wider appeal if treated more thoughtfully, and the 45 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: maple Leaf rag was his proof of concept. It was 46 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,959 Speaker 1: also the product of his life experience up to that point, 47 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: both on the stage and off. Joplin was born near Marshall, Texas, 48 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: probably in eighteen sixty seven or so. He and his 49 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: parents lived a difficult life there, but since his father 50 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: played violin and his mother the banjo, their house was 51 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: always full of music. Eventually, the Joplin's moved to Texarkana, 52 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: where Scott's mother found work cleaning houses. It's believed he 53 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: played the piano for the first time at the home 54 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: of one of her employers. In time, the young boy's 55 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: talent drew the attention of a German music teacher named 56 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: Julian Weiss, who began teaching him piano playing and composition. 57 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: As a teenager, Joplin formed the Texas Medley Quartet and 58 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: started performing at dances, weddings, and other events. He later 59 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: traveled to Missouri, where he taught music and played the 60 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: piano in local bars and restaurants. Eventually, his friends convinced 61 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: him to study music at George R. Smith College in Sedalia, Missouri. 62 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,799 Speaker 1: It was here that Joplin set to work on adapting 63 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: the tricky, syncopated rhythms of popular rag into formal musical notation. 64 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: In the meantime, he continued performing at local venues, including 65 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: a short lived social club called the Maple Leaf. While 66 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: never confirmed its believed Joplin named his most famous composition 67 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: as a tribute to the club where he first performed 68 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: the piece. After taking ragtime mainstream with The Maple Leaf, 69 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: Joplin struggled to repeat his early success. He wrote more 70 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: than forty other rags in his life time, including the 71 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: now classic piece The Entertainer, as well as dozens of 72 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: other piano songs and two operas, but none of them 73 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: were hits. In nineteen seventeen, Joplin passed away from paralytic dementia. 74 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: Complication of syphilis. He was forty nine. According to his 75 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: loved ones, Joplin often said that he would never be 76 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: appreciated until after he was dead. The composer was ultimately 77 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: proven right, but it did take some time. Most of 78 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: the world moved on from ragtime in the nineteen twenties, 79 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: is other new styles of music made their debut, but 80 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,040 Speaker 1: the Maple Leaf Rag and some of Joplin's other songs 81 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: showed surprising resilience despite the changing times. By the early 82 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, renewed interest had set the stage for a 83 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: ragtime revival. Pianists who had rediscovered Joplin's work started adding 84 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: songs like The Entertainer and the Maple Leaf Rag to 85 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: their set list. A new recording of Joplin's catalog sold 86 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: over a million copies, and in nineteen seventy three his 87 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: music gained a new life as the soundtrack for the 88 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: classic movie The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. 89 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: Although he didn't get to enjoy the full fruits of 90 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: his labor, Joplin's prophecy about posthumous appreciation was fulfilled in 91 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, when he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize 92 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: for his contributions to American music. At long last, Ragtime 93 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: was being taken seriously, just as Joplin had always wanted. 94 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: I'm gay, Bluesier, and hopefully you now know a little 95 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:46,040 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday, And if 96 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,039 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send 97 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: them to me at this day at i heart media 98 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 99 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,160 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 100 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History class. For more 101 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 102 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.