Pauline Brutting Story [1] (September 1870 - June 10, 1952) [2] was an American composer [3] and publisher who wrote ragtime pieces for piano and patriotic songs [4] during World War I, including one based on a text by Helen Keller. [5]
Story was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, [6] where she attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She married John F. Story in 1890, and they had four children. [7] She lived in New York City before moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1927. [2]
Story’s Dance of the Frowsy Heads was recorded commercially by Columbia in 1913. [8] She published some of her own music under the imprints of “P.B. Story” and “Story’s Music House,” which in 1918 was located at 111 E. 176th St New York City. [5] Her music was also published by William H. Anstead, [9] Brehm Brothers, [10] Gordon & Sons, Frank Harding, [5] Howley, Haviland and Dresser, Philip Kussel, [11] Frank K. Root, [12] and M. Witmark & Sons. [1]
Benjamin Robertson Harney was an American songwriter, entertainer, and pioneer of ragtime music. His 1896 composition "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" is the second ragtime composition to be published and the first ragtime hit to reach the mainstream. The first Ragtime composition published was La Pas Ma La written by Ernest Hogan in 1895. It has been disputed by many historians on whether or not, "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" was released in late 1895 or early 1896. On the front cover of "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down", its listed as being copyrighted on 1895. However on the first page, its listed as being copyrighted in 1896. During the early years of Harney's career, he falsely promoted himself as being the inventor of ragtime and never acknowledged the genre's black origin. Many contemporary musicians criticized him for it. Although ragtime is now probably more associated with Scott Joplin, in 1924 The New York Times wrote that Ben Harney "Probably did more to popularize ragtime than any other person." Time magazine called him "Ragtime's Father" in 1938.
M. Witmark & Sons was a leading publisher of sheet music for the United States "Tin Pan Alley" music industry.
Charles Luckyth Roberts, better known as Luckey Roberts, was an American composer and stride pianist who worked in the jazz, ragtime, and blues styles. Roberts performed as musician, band/orchestra conductor, and dancer. He taught music and dance. He also owned a restaurant and bar in New York City and in Washington, D.C. Luckey Roberts noted compositions include "Junk Man Rag", "Moonlight Cocktail", "Pork and Beans" (1913), and "Railroad Blues".
"The Saint Louis Blues" is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Eartha Kitt, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, Peanuts Hucko, and the Boston Pops Orchestra are among the artists who have recorded it. The song has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet". Composer William Grant Still arranged a version of the song in 1916 while working with Handy.
John Stillwell Stark was an American publisher of ragtime music, best known for publishing and promoting the music of Scott Joplin.
George Botsford was an American composer of ragtime and other forms of music.
Lyons and Yosco were an American comedy duo, consisting of Italian American musicians George Lyons and Bob Yosco. They were defined by the Ottawa Evening Journal "the finest pair of Italian street musicians playing in the Vaudeville ranks." They toured the United States from 1909 into 1923, doing a musical and comedy act. The News Journal described their performance, saying they were "the best vocalists and instrumentalists of the street variety on the stage, proved intensely interesting, while their droll comedy kept the audience laughing much of the time."
Melville Bernd Kaufman was a prolific American ragtime piano composer.
Amy Ashmore Clark was a Canadian-born American songwriter, composer, and businesswoman, "equally popular and successful as a writer of lyrics for other people's music, and a writer music for other people's lyrics", despite being unable to read or write music. She also appeared in musical comedy and vaudeville, worked in music publishing, and at several magazines.
Henriette Blanke-Belcher, also known as Henrietta Blanke-Belcher and later as Henriette B. Melson, was an American composer of popular music, especially waltzes and ragtime tunes.
George Wayne Fairman (1881–1962) was a lyricist, composer, and music publisher whose work includes popular songs. Several of his songs charted including two that reached #1. Fairman's work includes coon songs, ragtime, songs related to World War I, and a foxtrot.
Hanna van Vollenhoven Vories was a Dutch composer and pianist who later moved to America. She is best remembered today for composing and performing music for player piano rolls, and for New York University’s annual Hanna van Vollenhollen Fories Memorial Prize in Music. Her music was published under the name "Hanna Vollenhoven.
Frances Turgeon Wiggin was an American author and composer who is best remembered for writing the state song of Maine and publishing five books about Maine composers.
Helene Meyerstein was a German composer, singer, and pianist who toured throughout the United States during the 1920s and was interred in the Theresienstadt (Czechoslovakia) concentration camp during World War II. She performed and published her music under the name Lena Stein-Schneider.
Ottalie Mark was an American musicologist, copyright consultant, composer, and music editor.
Florence Margaret Spencer Palmer was a British composer who wrote several hymns and a piano pedagogy textbook. She published some of her works under the name Peggy Spencer Palmer.
Williametta Spencer is an American composer, musicologist, and teacher who plays harpsichord, organ, and piano. She is best known for her award-winning choral work At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.
Margaret Ann (“Peg”) Shelley Vance was an American composer and music educator who is best remembered today for her compositions and arrangements for choirs.
Grace Walls Linn Sandy was a ragtime composer and organist. The National Spiritualist Association of Churches made one of her compositions its official song. She published under the name Grace Walls Linn.
Dagmar de Corval Rybner Barclay was a Swiss-German composer, pianist, and teacher who worked and corresponded with Sergei Rachmaninoff. She published and performed under the name Dagmar Rybner.