| Solace | |
|---|---|
| by Scott Joplin | |
 1909 cover of "Solace" [1] | |
| Form | Habanera / Mexican serenade |
| Published | 1909 |
| Publisher | Seminary Music Co., New York [2] |
| Duration | |
"Solace" is a 1909 habanera written by Scott Joplin.
| Solace | |
|---|---|
| by Scott Joplin | |
| 1909 cover of "Solace" [1] | |
| Form | Habanera / Mexican serenade |
| Published | 1909 |
| Publisher | Seminary Music Co., New York [2] |
| Duration | |
"Solace" is a 1909 habanera written by Scott Joplin.
Though Joplin labeled the piece "a Mexican Serenade", [2] [3] its origins are more probably Cuban, [4] [5] and it is considered to have a habanera (and tango [4] [5] ) rhythm in three of the four strains [note 1] [6] – something unique for a work by Joplin, [5] [6] although a brief habanera bass did appear in his previous composition of that year, "Wall Street Rag". [2]
"Solace" is marked "very slow march time", [1] [4] [5] and while it is difficult to determine the intended speed, it has been played andante (around ♪112). [4] The first two strains have a key signature of C major, while the third and fourth are in F major. [1] [5]
Similarities between Latin-American music and Joplin's more familiar ragtime had been noted as early as 1897 by Ben Harney. [2] Tangos were introduced to the United States as early as 1860 by Louis Moreau Gottschalk's "Souvenir de la Havane". [5] Perhaps the first example of tango composed by an African American was Jess Pickett's rag-tango "The Dream", played at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. William H. Tyers' "Maori" was a famous African-American tango published a year before "Solace", [4] [5] though the two pieces do not share resemblance. [5] In contrast, the first strain of "Solace" contains a theme closely resembling part of Will H. Etter's "Whoa! Maud", published four years before "Solace". [2]
"Solace" was registered for copyright on April 28, 1909, [2] when Joplin was in his early forties and recently married. [5] [7]
Alongside "Gladiolus Rag", "Pine Apple Rag", "The Ragtime Dance" and "The Entertainer", "Solace" was one of Joplin's compositions which featured in the soundtrack of the 1973 film The Sting and helped to revive his music's popularity. [8]
Moreover, the song is also featured prominently in the 2013 video game Bioshock Infinite, which is set in a floating city in the year 1912.
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott Joplin, James Scott and Joseph Lamb. Ragtime pieces are typically composed for and performed on piano, though the genre has been adapted for a variety of instruments and styles. "Maple Leaf Rag", "The Entertainer", "Fig Leaf Rag", "Frog Legs Rag", and "Sensation Rag" are among the most popular songs of the genre.
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime". During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music and largely disdained the practice of ragtime such as that in honky tonk.
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a Tin Pan Alley song by American composer Irving Berlin released in 1911; it is often inaccurately cited as his first global hit. Despite its title, the song is a march as opposed to a rag and contains little syncopation. The song is a narrative sequel to Berlin's earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet". This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between an African-American musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style. Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.
Joseph Francis Lamb was an American composer of ragtime music. Lamb, of Irish descent, was the only non-African American of the "Big Three" composers of classical ragtime, the other two being Scott Joplin and James Scott. The ragtime of Joseph Lamb ranges from standard popular fare to complex and highly engaging. His use of long phrases was influenced by classical works he had learned from his sister and others while growing up, but his sense of structure was potentially derived from his study of Joplin's piano rags. By the time he added some polish to his later works in the 1950s, Lamb had mastered the classic rag genre in a way that almost no other composer was able to approach at that time, and continued to play it passably as well, as evidenced by at least two separate recordings done in his home, as well as a few recorded interviews.
James Sylvester Scott was an American ragtime composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the "Big Three" composers of classical ragtime along with Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb.
The "Maple Leaf Rag" is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. As a result, Joplin became dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by his contemporaries. The piece gave Joplin a steady if unspectacular income for the rest of his life.
Percy Wenrich was an American composer of ragtime and popular music.
Classic rag is the style of ragtime composition pioneered by Scott Joplin and the Missouri school of ragtime composers. These compositions were first considered "classic" by Joplin's publisher, John Stark, as a way to distinguish them from what he considered the "common" rags of other publishers. Today, any composition fitting this particular ragtime structural form is considered classic rag.
Contradanza is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador.
"The Entertainer" is a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin.
The "Swipesy Cakewalk" is a ragtime composition written in 1900 by a musical duo consisting of Scott Joplin, who composed the trio, and the young composer Arthur Marshall, who composed the rest of the piece. "Swipesy" uses the simple syncopations of a cakewalk - the first beat being a sixteenth, eighth, sixteenth note division, and the second beat an even eighth note division. The style follows the AA BB A CC DD musical form common for both cakewalks and rags, particularly after the earlier publication of Joplin's hit "Maple Leaf Rag". Only the C section, composed by Joplin, departs from the cakewalk rhythm and is more pure ragtime. The composition was written in the late 1890s when Joplin was living with the Marshall family, and was teaching Arthur, composition.
"Magnetic Rag" is a 1914 ragtime piano composition by American composer Scott Joplin. It is significant for being the last rag which Joplin published in his lifetime, three years before his death in 1917. It is also unique in form and in some of the musical techniques employed in the composition.
"Original Rags" was an early ragtime medley for piano. It was the first of Scott Joplin's rags to appear in print, in early 1899, preceding his "Maple Leaf Rag" by half a year.
"Frog Legs Rag" is a classic rag composed by James Scott and published by John Stillwell Stark in December 1906. It was James Scott's first commercial success. Prior to this composition Scott had published marches. With "Frog Legs Rag", Scott embarked upon a career as a successful and important ragtime songwriter.
"Bethena, A Concert Waltz" is a composition by Scott Joplin. It was the first Joplin work since his wife Freddie's death on September 10, 1904, of pneumonia, ten weeks after their wedding. At the time the composer had significant financial problems; the work did not sell successfully at the time of publication and was soon neglected and forgotten. It was rediscovered as a result of the Joplin revival in the 1970s and has received acclaim from Joplin's biographers and other critics. The piece combines two different styles of music, the classical waltz and the rag, and has been seen as demonstrating Joplin's excellence as a classical composer. The work has been described as "an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of Ragtime Waltzes", a "masterpiece", and "Joplin's finest waltz".
"The Easy Winners" is a ragtime composition by Scott Joplin. One of his most popular works, it was one of the four that had been recorded as of 1940.
The "Searchlight Rag" is a ragtime composition by Scott Joplin, first published in 1907. It was named after the town of Searchlight, Nevada, where his friends had gone prospecting, inspiring the title.
The New England Ragtime Ensemble was a Boston chamber orchestra dedicated to the music of Scott Joplin and other ragtime composers.
"Wall Street Rag" is a ragtime composition by Scott Joplin, first published in 1909. As indicated by the title, the theme is based on Wall Street following the events surrounding the Panic of 1907. This is represented in the musical structure along with its corresponding annotations.
