Newly Discovered Joplin Fragment?
DVanAlst
I just finished listening to a new ragtime CD by Reginald Robinson called
"Euphonic Sounds" (Delmark 718). The first track purports to be a
newly-discovered fragment of a Joplin song! Apparently Mr. Robinson found, in
the Fisk University archives, a picture of Scott Joplin's piano from 1947. On
the piano, in the picture, were some pages of handwritten music. When the
picture was enlarged so that the music could be read, it turned out that one of
the pages was "page 2" of an unknown Joplin song, circa 1910. (I don't know
what the other pages were, but from the picture in the liner notes, they look
like instrumental parts from an orchestration.)
The fragment itself is about 30 seconds long. It begins at the middle of one
theme, and stops at the middle of the next theme. So, the listener is left
with the sensation of having walked past a room and heard somebody playing
something that *sounds* like Joplin, but not having stayed nearby long enough
to figure out what it was. The music, by the way, is definitely Joplinesque --
I don't think it's a sham.
I hadn't seen anything about this posted on the newsgroup, so I thought I'd
open up the floor: Does anyone know the circumstances under which that picture
was taken and what happened to the music on the piano???
If anyone's interested, the other selections on the CD are:
2. Space Coaster Ride (Robinson)
3. The Entertainer (Joplin)
4. Raggy Rag (Willis)
5. Pekin Rag (Jordan)
6. Truly Yours (Robinson)
7. Heliotrope Bouquet (Chauvin/Joplin)
8. Babe, It's Too Long Off (Chauvin/Bowman)
9. The Moon is Shining in the Skies (Chauvin/Patterson)
10. Euphonic Sounds (Joplin)
11. Frog Legs (Scott)
12. Sweet Envy (Robinson)
13. The Daredevil's Gallop (Robinson)
14. Ragtime Bobolink (Lamb)
15. Adventures in Wonderland (Robinson)
16. Incognito (Robinson/Taylor)
17. Still Water Blues (Robinson/Taylor)
18. Lift Every Voice and Sing (Johnson/Johnson)
19. Cottontail Rag
BTW, a propos of the earlier thread on race and ragtime, Mr. Robinson is an
African American male in his early 20s.
Fred Brodie
Dvan...@aol.com
Colin D. MacDonald
DVanAlst wrote:
>
> ......The first track purports to be a
> newly-discovered fragment of a Joplin song! Apparently Mr. Robinson found, in
> the Fisk University archives, a picture of Scott Joplin's piano from 1947. On
Reginald talked about this when he performed at the West Coast Ragtime
Festival in Sacramento last November.
An outstanding composition on his new release is Sweet Envy. I haven't
heard the CD but I made a point to seek out his performances at the
Festival to hear his performance of Sweet Envy.
By the way, he is scheduled to return to the WCRS Festival XII November
20-22.
Colin MacDonald
ragti...@geocities.com
In article <199805280116...@ladder03.news.aol.com>,
dvan...@aol.com (DVanAlst) wrote:
>
> I just finished listening to a new ragtime CD by Reginald Robinson called
> newly-discovered fragment of a Joplin song! Apparently Mr. Robinson found,
in
> the Fisk University archives, a picture of Scott Joplin's piano from 1947.
On
> picture was enlarged so that the music could be read, it turned out that
one of
> the pages was "page 2" of an unknown Joplin song, circa 1910. (I don't know
> what the other pages were, but from the picture in the liner notes, they
look
> like instrumental parts from an orchestration.)
>
Mr. Brodie,
I too own a CD by Reginald R. Robinson, a much earlier one however. Yet,
is liner notes indicate a genuine love of ragtime and its history. He also
expresses a great infatuation with Joplin's music. I too do not believe that
someone who appears so genuine, (with 3 or 4 ragtime CD's to his name), would
lie about something like this.
Now, I am a little partial to Reginald because the CD of his I own was
made when he was 21. Since he started playing and writing at 15, (and I am
15), I believe him 100%. My one question however... how the heck would would
Reginald be able to discover this picture and Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis
miss it? Edward Berlin? It must be known somewhere...
Martin Spitznagel
P.S- Reginald R. Robinson is African-American by the way...Yeah!!!!!!!
>
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
eabe...@fnol.net
In article <6kkbb4$tj1$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
ragti...@Geocities.com wrote:
> . . . < snip> . . . My one question however... how the heck would
would
> Reginald be able to discover this picture and Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis
> miss it? Edward Berlin? It must be known somewhere...
>
Good question. I have long had a copy of the photo & examined the music on
the upright piano, but the music was mostly a blur. I never gave it another
thought. I guess Reginald used more initiative, perhaps got a better copy. I
heard him play the fragment in Sacramento last fall but could not give an
opinion as to whether it was authentic Joplin. Reg agreed to send me a copy of
what he had worked from, but I guess it slipped his mind.
I was once told by James Fuld (a *major* music and autograph collector,
including some ragtime and the Maple Leaf Rag contract) that he had been
informed by a librarian at Fisk (he didn't recall who) that they did not
consider the piano to have been Joplin's. Well, Joplin had a Steinway grand,
but he seems to have had several residences in New York. He could have had
the upright, too.
I'm not positive of the history of the photo, but since the original is at
Fisk, it was probably from Brun Campbell, who would have received it from
Joplin's widow, Lottie. And Lottie definitely had Joplin manuscripts, giving
support to Reginald's claim.
As to the year of the photo: I don't have it in front of me & am not
inclined to search for it out at the moment. But I seem to recall there are
two manuscript pages, one from a song, another being an orchestral part, and a
piece of published music that makes a 1910 date impossible. My impression
(and I'm working from memory) is that it was a photo that Lottie took and gave
to Campbell in the late 1940s.
Ed Berlin
tracy...@my-dejanews.com
In article <6kkbb4$tj1$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
ragti...@Geocities.com wrote:
>
> My one question however... how the heck would would
> Reginald be able to discover this picture and Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis
> miss it? Edward Berlin? It must be known somewhere...
>
>
Hi Martin --
As wonderful as the works of Blesh and Janis were, (and the outstanding
biography of Ed Berlin), as a researcher, I can state that NOBODY finds
everything. No matter how throrough one is there are always stones left
unturned. That is why Dick Zimmerman and I are always digging through
libraries and archives wherever we travel.
Also, Blesh and Janis were under a very tight deadline and, while their book
is among the finest in ragtime literature it is still flawed and incomplete.
It would be impossible for anyone to write a book which contains everything
known about ragtime or its composers and performers. Hope this answers your
question!
RAGards,
Tracy Doyle
Please reply to "dicktracy at oro dot net."
ragti...@geocities.com
Mr. Berlin and Ms. Doyle,
Thank you for your responses. I too own a copy of Mr. Berlin's phenomenal
biography, (I've read it six times, loving it every time. I have no life,
sorry...). Anyway, regardless of authenticity or age, I really hope that the
piece Reggie found was by Joplin. I'm still waiting for the day when "A
Guest of Honor" is recovered...
Thanks again!
Martin S.
P.S- I look forward to seeing you in Sedalia!!!
In article <6kl7qf$b99$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
eabe...@fnol.net wrote:
>
> In article <6kkbb4$tj1$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
> ragti...@Geocities.com wrote:
>
> > . . . < snip> . . . My one question however... how the heck would
> would
> > Reginald be able to discover this picture and Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis
> > miss it? Edward Berlin? It must be known somewhere...
> >
>
DVanAlst
As to the date of the picture, I can add another piece of information. The
back of the CD cover credits the picture as "'Scott Joplin's piano,' c. 1947."
The liner notes don't explain who took the picture or where it was taken,
though. Obviously, Joplin's piano hadn't been sitting there for 30 years with
the same music on it! Somebody needed to "set up" that picture in 1947, and I
wonder who did it (and where they got the manuscripts).
Ed Berlin is correct that the picture includes a piece of printed music as
well. But, since the picture was admittedly taken in 1947, the date of the
printed music wouldn't affect the date of the handwritten manuscript -- the
person who arranged the picture could have put pieces from different dates on
the piano.
Further intelligence about the photo and its provenance would be welcome!
Cheers,
Fred Brodie
Mark Lutton
Now I'm curious! Although Joplin was very famous at one point, by the
1920's and 30's he was so obscure that nobody rescued piles and piles
of his manuscripts from the trash. So who owned his piano during
that time? How did they acquire it? Where did they keep it?
Were Joplin's pianos auctioned off after his death? Did some
collector buy it as an investment? Or is the date a typographical
error? Was it perhaps 1907?