Need info on "Binks' Waltz"
Jim O'Briant
title or composer, you've come through with flying colors. So I'll ask
another question!
A local instrumental ensemble has commissioned me to arrange Scott Joplin's
"Binks' Waltz" for them. I'd like to also prepare some "program notes" type
information for them, but I can find little about this piece. I know that
it was published in 1905 by Bahnsen Music Co. of St. Louis (who also
published "Bethena"), and that "Binks' Waltz" was composed on commission
from a St. Louis area businessman.
Does anyone know any more about this piece? Who was "Bink?" Who's that
little tyke pictured in on the cover that's reproduced in Vera Brodsky
Lawrence's edition of Joplin's Collected Piano Works? Who was the
commissioning entity? and last but not least, can anyone provide a nice
clear, reproducible scan of the original cover, one with enough contrast
that the other children's images will show up more clearly?
Thanks in advance,
Jim O'Briant
Gilroy, CA
Oleg Mezjuev
Here is some information about "Bink's Waltz" taken from "King of Ragtime -
Scott Joplin and His Era" by Edward A. Berlin (Oxford University Press, 1994):
===
"Bethena" was issued by T. Bahnsen Piano Mfg. Co., at 1522 Olive Street. This
Company was a thriving firm that advertised frequently in the "St. Louis
Post-Dispatch", but, exept for three Joplin publications, does not seem to have
been involved in music publishing. The two other works, also issued in 1905,
were both copyrighted on August 11.
One of these works is "Bink's Waltz", a nonsyncopated piece composed in honor of
an infant boy named James Allen Morgens, nicknamed "Bing" by his older sister.
The title should have been "Bing's Waltz".
The child's father, William A. Morgens, operated the Morgens-Scott Dry Cleaning
store at 3400 Olive Street. According to Morgens family legend, Joplin
frequently stopped by the store "looking for handouts". The stories are
inconsistent on whether Joplin composed the waltz in gratitude for generous
"handouts" or in response to a direct commission, but it is clear that it was,
in one way or another, a composition for which Joplin received payment.
There is insufficient evidence to determine whether Joplin could have actually
been begging. It would seem likely that he had lost a good deal of money on his
"Guest of Honor" tour two years earlier. It is possible that he was actively
seeking commissions or writing for hire. Perhaps he was also seeking a patron or
a backer for another theatrical venture. To a small businessman, one not
necessarily versed in the traditions of the arts, it could have appeared that
this black man was simply "looking for handouts".
What the family legends do not tell is that the Morgens had a connection with T.
Bahnsen. The firm was incorporated in June of 1898 with a capitalization of
twenty-five thousand dollars. Timotheus Bahnsen and Alvina Bahnsen owned
ninety-nine percent of the company, but a single onehundred dollar share was
owned by Anna Morgens. No one in the family today can identify Anna Morgens, but
the unususal spelling of the family name would strongly suggest she was a
relative. It would therefore seem likely that her connection with Bahnsen had
soemthing to do with the publication of "Bink's Waltz" and with Joplin's
dealings with the company.
While "Bink's Waltz" is a pleasant, effective dance piece, one cannot think of
it as a distinuished work. Yet, it is one in which Joplin apparently took some
pride. He announced its composition in the "Freeman" on July 22, 1905,
programmed it at a concert later that year, where it was "the hit of the bill",
and used it again for a dance five years later.
The final Bahnsen publication was "Sarah Dear" [...snip...]
===
RAGards!
Oleg Mezjuev
--
oleg.m...@mailbox.swipnet.se
http://www.ragtime.nu
Jim O'Briant
> Hello Jim!
>
> Here is some information about "Bink's Waltz" taken from "King of
Ragtime -
> Scott Joplin and His Era" by Edward A. Berlin (Oxford University Press,
1994):
> [quotation excised]
Thank you, Oleg!
I have purchased a copy of Ed Berlin's book and read it from cover to
cover -- and I thinks it's in the house someplace, but I can't find it! (I
s'pose that means I should order another one and generate some more
royalties for Ed!)
But you've provided just the information I need for the "program notes" to
include with my Woodwind Quintet arrangement.
Incidentally, the local quintet who commissioned the arrangement read
through the draft copies last week, and really loved it! They've now asked
for an arrangement of "Bethena" as well. If I can't find my copy of Ed's
book, I'll ask for info on that one as well.
I'd also like to get a nice clear scan of the photograph that graces the
original cover of "Bethena." I'll ask that one in another separate note.
Thanks again!
-- Jim O'B.