Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin (1868-1917). Black US ragtime composer and pianist. As a teenager he studied harmony and travelled round the Southern states playing in bars and brothels. Influenced by Black folk melodies, he played in the syncopated style called ragtime. Success came with the publication of ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ (1899) and The Entertainer’ (1902). Joplin then moved to New York where he composed ‘Fig Leaf Rag’ (1908) and the ragtime opera Treemonisha, first performed in Harlem in 1915. He died in poverty in an asylum. In the 1970s his music enjoyed a popular revival, due partly to the use of The Entertainer’ as the theme music for the film The Sting (1973).
