Obscure Music Monday: Joplin's Treemonisha

Scott Joplin (c. 1867/68 - April 1, 1917) was an African-American composer and pianist, who came to be known as the "King of Ragtime Writers". Joplin was born in to a family of railroad laborers in Texas, but got as much musical knowledge as he could from local teachers, and ended up forming a vocal quartet, and teaching mandolin and guitar. He later left for the south to work as a itinerant musician, and eventually found his way up to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which contributed towards the ragtime craze.Joplin isn't an obscure composer, yet so many of his works are overlooked in favor of his two most well known rags--The Entertainer, and the Maple Leaf rags. He also wrote a few operas, including one entitled Treemonisha.

Joplin completed his opera in 1910, and sent the piano-vocal score to a musical journal where it received a glowing review, yet it was sadly never fully staged during Joplin's life, and didn't have a complete performance til 1972.

The opera has many of the usual components; an overture, prelude, arias, choruses, recitatives, and a ballet. It's musical style is much like romantic operas of the 20th century, and the work is filled with black folk dances and songs, spirituals, and pre-blues/jazz music. He added his signature ragtime sound in some dance pieces in the opera as well.

The story of Treemonisha is about a woman (the title character) who is a slave living on a plantation, and is taught to read by a white woman. Treemonisha becomes a community leader, trying to protect those who would prey on people's ignorance and superstitions. She is then abducted and almost thrown to a wasps' nest, but gets rescued by her friend Remus. The community learns to value education for all people, and Treemonisha becomes their teacher and leader whom they happily follow.

Despite the glowing reviews this opera first received and continues to get, it isn't performed with anywhere the frequency of other operas, like the standards of Verdi, Puccini, or Mozart. It's been shown more interest as of late, but nowhere as much as it deserves!

Part 1