Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag (Score-Video)

The 'Maple Leaf Rag' 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 composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. As a result, Joplin became dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by his contemporaries. The piece gave Joplin a steady if unspectacular income for the rest of his life.

Despite ragtime's decline after Joplin's death in 1917, the 'Maple Leaf Rag' continued to be recorded by many well-known artists. The ragtime revival of the 1970s brought it back to mainstream public notice once again

Although there were hundreds of rags in print by the time of the 'Maple Leaf Rag's' publication, Joplin was not far behind. His first published rag was "Original Rags" (March 1899). The 'Maple Leaf Rag' was already known in Sedalia prior to its publication in 1899; composer and pianist Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in or around 1898. Prior to its publication, Joplin anticipated that the piece would be a success—he told Arthur Marshall that "The Maple Leaf will make me the king of ragtime composers".

The exact circumstances which led to publication of the 'Maple Leaf Rag' are unknown, and there are versions of the event which contradict each other. After approaching several publishers, Joplin signed a contract with John Stillwell Stark on August 10, 1899 for a $0.01 royalty on all sales of the rag, with a minimum sales price of $0.25. The 'Maple Leaf Rag' was published between August 10 and September 20, 1899, when the United States Copyright Office received two copies of the score. The rag was reissued in 1900 or 1901 with a new cover showing a green maple leaf and a photograph of Joplin

'Maple Leaf Rag' is a multi-strain ragtime march with athletic bass lines and offbeat melodies. Each of the four parts features a recurring theme and a striding bass line with copious seventh chords. The piece may be considered the "archetypal rag" due to its influence on the genre; its structure was the basis for many other rags, including "Sensation" by Joseph Lamb. It is more carefully constructed than almost all the previous rags, and the syncopations, especially in the transition between the first and second strain, were novel at the time.

Generally, the piece is considered difficult; one must have very good coordination in the left hand to perform the piece successfully, particularly for the trio, which involves leaps of two octaves. When it was first published, it was considered significantly more difficult than the average Tin Pan Alley and early ragtime sheet music common at the time.

"Gladiolus Rag", a later composition by Joplin, is a developed variant of the "Maple Leaf Rag" showcasing Joplin's increasing musical sophistication, and is usually played at a somewhat slower tempo. In addition, the first strain of Joplin's "The Cascades", "Leola", and "Sugar Cane" are modeled on the structure used in the composition.

The composition starts in the key of A-flat major and changes to D-flat major during the first part of the trio, then modulates back to A-flat major.

Pianist: Jincheng Zhang


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