Scott Joplin's Complete Piano Works arranged for Brass Quintet
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Scott Joplin (1868 – 1917) is remembered as the “King of Ragtime”, a moniker that highlights how synonymous his name is with the style. Joplin’s music has appeared frequently throughout my life. Whether it be chasing ice cream trucks blaring The Entertainer through the streets of Eglin Air Force Base, picking up the three-disc collection tin Ragtime: The Music of Scott Joplin (Collector’s Edition)(2008) collection at Walmart a decade later (with art by Hambone, but where the performer isn’t credited (!), which led me to fall in love with Bethena), or eyeing Dover’s Complete Piano Rags on the shelf at the music store in West Hartford, Joplin has appeared time and again. The first Joplin piece I arranged for Brass Quintet was A Breeze From Alabama in 2022. When I finished arranging all of John Philip Sousa’s marches there was a distinct void, and I turned to Joplin’s music to fill it. Fifty-three pieces later I find the same feeling with this new friend.
For those wanting to learn more about Joplin’s life and times I recommend Edward A. Berlin’s King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era published by Oxford University Press. He also did an interview with the New Books in Biography Podcast on this which may be a concise listen. While Joplin’s output was overwhelmingly for the piano, there are a handful of other works. I have not yet arranged the vocal works and don’t plan on touching his opera Treemonisha. There were also “song” versions of Maple Leaf Rag and Pineapple Rag, and though the form and some passages of these are different I decided to only arrange the originals. It's been a pleasure to dive into Joplin’s music and I hope these arrangements allow for more performers and audiences to enjoy it as much as I do. - Matthew Nunes February 2022, Niceville, Florida to March 2025, Fort Wayne, Indiana |
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List of Works (by date)
1896
- Great Crush Collision – (The Crush Collision March) (1896)
- Combination March (1896)
- Harmony Club Waltz (1896)
- Original Rags (1899); arranged by Charles N. Daniels
- Maple Leaf Rag (1899)
- Swipesy Cakewalk (1900) – with Arthur Marshall
- Peacherine Rag (1901)
- Sunflower Slow Drag – A Rag Time Two Step (1901) – with Scott Hayden
- Augustan Club Waltz (1901)
- The Easy Winners – Ragtime Two Step (1901)
- Cleopha – March and Two Step (1902)
- A Breeze From Alabama – Ragtime Two Step (1902)
- Elite Syncopations (1902)
- The Entertainer – Ragtime Two Step (1902)
- March Majestic (1902)
- The Strenuous Life – Ragtime Two Step (1902)
- Something Doing – Cake Walk March (1903) – with Scott Hayden
- Weeping Willow – Ragtime Two Step (1903)
- Palm Leaf Rag – A Slow Drag (1903)
- The Sycamore – A Concert Rag (1904)
- The Favourite – Ragtime Two Step (1904)
- The Cascades – A Rag (1904)
- The Chrysanthemum – An Afro-Intermezzo (1904)
- Bethena – A Concert Waltz (1905)
- Binks' Waltz (1905)
- Rosebud – March and Two Step (1905)
- Leola – Two Step (1905)
- Eugenia (1906)
- The Ragtime Dance – A Stop-Time Two Step (1906)
- Antoinette – March and Two Step (1906)
- Nonpareil (None to Equal) (1907)
- Gladiolus Rag (1907)
- Searchlight Rag – A Syncopated March and Two Step (1907)
- Lily Queen – Ragtime Two-Step (1907) – with Arthur Marshall
- Rose Leaf Rag – Ragtime Two-Step (1907)
- Heliotrope Bouquet – A Slow Drag Two-Step (1907) – with Louis Chauvin
- School of Ragtime – 6 Exercises for Piano (1908)
- Fig Leaf Rag (1908)
- Wall Street Rag (1908)
- Sugar Cane – Ragtime Classic Two Step (1908)
- Pleasant Moments – Ragtime Waltz (1909)
- Solace – A Mexican Serenade (1909)
- Country Club – Rag Time Two Step (1909)
- Euphonic Sounds – A Syncopated Novelty (1909)
- Paragon Rag – A Syncopated Novelty (1909)
- Pine Apple Rag (1910)
- Stoptime Rag (1910)
- Felicity Rag (1911) – with Scott Hayden
- Scott Joplin's New Rag (1912)
- Kismet Rag (1913) – with Scott Hayden
- Magnetic Rag (1914)
- Reflection Rag – Syncopated Musings (1917)
- Silver Swan Rag (1971) (attributed to Scott Joplin)
