List of compositions by Scott Joplin

The following is a complete list of musical compositions by Scott Joplin (ca. 1867–April 1, 1917).

Scott Joplin in 1903

Sheet music cover page, 1901

Sheet music cover page, 1905

Sheet cover page 1906.

Sheet music cover page, 1909

Treemonisha cover, 1911

Sheet music cover page, 1914

Scott Joplin was born in Northeast Texas in around 1867, just outside Texarkana, and was a street performer before settling in Sedalia, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, and finally New York City where he died in 1917. He was an American composer and pianist, who achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) has been recognized as the archetypal rag and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony.^[1]

His finances were precarious throughout his career, despite a steady income from the "Maple Leaf Rag".^[2] Joplin had the majority of his works published by John Stark of Sedalia, Missouri although he did use other lesser-known companies including his own "Scott Joplin Music Publishing Company". His first opera A Guest of Honor was lost after an unsuccessful tour in 1903. After the death of his widow, Lottie, in 1953 a number of manuscripts of unpublished work were lost and no copies of them are known to exist.^[3]

When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs of Tin Pan Alley.^[4] As a composer Joplin refined ragtime, developing it from the dance music played by pianists in brothels in cities like St. Louis.^[5] This new art form, the classic rag, combined Afro-American folk music's syncopation and nineteenth-century European romanticism, with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos, in particular the works of John Philip Sousa.^[6][7][8] With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them – without improvisation.^[9] Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work which opera historian Elise Kirk described as "...more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."^[10]

There are many inconsistencies between the titles of compositions, their subtitles and their respective cover titles, which was seen by the editor of the collected works as reflecting "an editorial casualness" on the part of the publishers, and indicating a genre in which many dance-steps could be performed interchangeably.^[11] Many of the works cannot be dated with certainty and the pieces were not always sent to the Copyright Office for copyright registration. In many cases the publication date is the only indication of when the piece was composed.^[12]

Title	Form	Year	Comments	Notes
Please Say You Will	Song	1895	Lyrics by Scott Joplin	[13][14]
Picture Of Her Face, AA Picture Of Her Face	Song	1895	Lyrics by Scott Joplin	[15][16]
Great Crush Collision March	March	1896		[17]
Combination March	March	1896		[17]
Harmony Club Waltz	Waltz	1896		[17]
Original Rags	Rag	1899	Arranged by Charles N. Daniels, although this involvement is doubtful	[18][17]
Maple Leaf Rag	Rag	1899	Maple Leaf Rag	[17]
Swipesy Cakewalk	Cakewalk	1900	With Arthur Marshall	[16][17]
Peacherine Rag	Rag	1901		[17]
Sunflower Slow Drag	Rag Time Two Step	1901	With Scott Hayden Sunflower Slow Drag played by the US Marine Corps Band in 1994	[19][17]
Augustan Club Waltz	Waltz	1901		[17]
I Am Thinking Of My Pickaninny Days	Song	1901	Lyrics by Henry Jackson	[20][17]
Easy Winners, TheThe Easy Winners	Rag Time Two Step	1901		[17]
Blizzard, AA Blizzard	Unknown	1901	Lost - unpublished. Mentioned in Indianapolis Freeman, November 16, 1901	[21][17]
Cleopha	March and Two Step	1902		[17]
Breeze From Alabama, AA Breeze From Alabama	March and Two Step	1902		[17]
Elite Syncopations	Rag	1902		[17]
Entertainer, TheThe Entertainer	Rag Time Two Step	1902	The Entertainer	[17]
March Majestic	March	1902		[17]
Strenuous Life, TheThe Strenuous Life	Rag Time Two Step	1902		[17]
Ragtime Dance, TheThe Ragtime Dance	Song	1902	Lyrics by Scott Joplin	[15][17]
Something Doing	Cakewalk March	1903	With Scott Hayden	[19][17]
Weeping Willow	Rag Time Two Step	1903		[17]
Little Black Baby	Song	1903	Lyrics by Louise Armstrong Bristol	[20][17]
Palm Leaf Rag	Slow Drag	1903		[17]
Guest of Honor, AA Guest of Honor	Rag Time Opera	1903	Lost	[17]
Dude's Parade	Excerpt from Opera	1903	Lost - unpublished. Excerpt from A Guest of Honor. Announced in the Indianapolis Freeman, September 12, 1903	[22][17]
Patriotic Patrol	Excerpt from Opera	1903	Lost - unpublished. Excerpt from A Guest of Honor. Announced in the Indianapolis Freeman, September 12, 1903	[18][17]
Maple Leaf Rag	Song	1904	Lyrics by Sydney Brown. A simplified arrangement not done by Joplin	[23][18][17]
Sycamore, TheThe Sycamore	Concert Rag	1904		[17]
Favorite, TheThe Favorite	Rag Time Two Step	1904		[17]
Cascades, TheThe Cascades	Rag	1904		[17]
Chrysanthemum, TheThe Chrysanthemum	Afro-intermezzo	1904		[17]
Bethena	Concert Waltz	1905		[17]
Binks' Waltz	Waltz	1905		[17]
Sarah Dear	Song	1905	Lyrics by Henry Jackson	[24][17]
Rosebud March, TheThe Rosebud March	Two Step	1905		[17]
Leola	Two Step	1905		[17]
You Stand Good with Me, Babe	Song	1905	Lost - unpublished. Announced in Indianapolis Freeman, July 22, 1905	[16][17]
Eugenia		1906		[17]
Ragtime Dance, TheThe Ragtime Dance	Stop Time Two Step	1906		[17]
Antoinette	March and Two Step	1906		[17]
Good-bye Old Gal Goodbye	Song	1906	Music by H. Carroll Taylor, lyrics by Mac Darden, arranged by Joplin	[25][17]
Snoring Sampson. A Quarrel in Ragtime	Song	1907	Music & lyrics by Harry La Mertha, arranged by Joplin	[19][17]
Nonpareil (None To Equal)		1907		[17]
When Your Hair Is Like The Snow	Song	1907	Lyrics by Owen Spendthrift	[16][17]
Gladiolus Rag	Rag	1907		[17]
Searchlight Rag	Syncopated March and Two Step	1907	Searchlight Rag	[17]
Lily Queen	Rag Time Two Step	1907	By Arthur Marshall, edited by Joplin	[26][20][17]
Rose Leaf Rag	Rag Time Two Step	1907		[17]
Heliotrope Bouquet	Slow Drag Two Step	1907	With Louis Chauvin	[25][17]
Fig Leaf Rag	Rag	1908		[27]
Wall Street Rag	Rag	1908		[27]
Sugar Cane	Rag Time Classic Two Step	1908		[27]
Sensation	Rag	1908	By Joseph F. Lamb; arranged by Scott Joplin	[24][27]
Pine Apple Rag	Rag	1908		[27]
School Of Rag Time - 6 Exercises For Piano	Exercises	1908		[27]
Pleasant Moments	Rag Time Waltz	1909	Pleasant Moments performed by the composer on a Player Piano in 1916	[27]
Solace	Mexican Serenade	1909		[27]
Country Club	Rag Time Two Step	1909		[27]
Euphonic Sounds	Syncopated Novelty	1909		[27]
Paragon Rag	Syncopated Novelty	1909		[27]
Stoptime Rag	Rag	1910		[27]
Pine Apple Rag	Song	1910	Lyrics by Joe Snyder	[15][27]
Treemonisha	Opera	1911		[27]
Felicity Rag	Rag	1911	With Scott Hayden. May have been composed before 1903	[25][27]
Lovin' Babe	Song	1911	Lyrics by Al. R. Turner, arranged by Joplin	[20][27]
Scott Joplin's New Rag	Rag	1912		[27]
Kismet Rag	Rag	1913	With Scott Hayden. May have been composed before 1903	[20][27]
Real Slow Drag, AA Real Slow Drag	Slow Drag	1913	Revised excerpt from Treemonisha	[27]
Prelude to Act 3	Opera Excerpt	1913	Revised excerpt from Treemonisha	[27]
Silver Swan Rag	Rag	1914	Originally published only on piano roll. Sheet music published in 1971.	[27]
Magnetic Rag	Rag	1914	Magnetic Rag	[27]
Frolic of the Bears	Ballet	1915	Revised excerpt from Treemonisha	[28][27]
Morning Glories	Song	1915	Lost - incomplete, and unpublished. Announced by the composer in the Indianapolis Freeman newspaper, September 4, 1915. Seen by biographer Rudi Blesh in 1950	[29][27]
Syncopated Jamboree	Vaudeville Act	1915	Lost - unpublished. Announced in the Indianapolis Freeman newspaper, September 18, 1915	[30][27]
Pretty Pansy Rag	Rag	1915?	Lost - incomplete, and unpublished	[27]
Recitative Rag	Rag	1915?	Lost - incomplete, and unpublished	[27]
For The Sake Of All	Song	1915?	Lost - incomplete, and unpublished.	[27]
If	Musical Comedy	1915	Lost - announced in the New York Age September 7, 1916	[20][27]
Symphony No. 1	Symphony	1916?	Lost - announced in the New York Age September 7, 1916	[16][27]
Piano Concerto	Piano Concerto	1916?	Lost - unpublished	[15][27]
Reflection Rag (Syncopated Musings)	Rag	1917	Published posthumously by Stark, likely from much older unpublished manuscripts	[27]

References

1. Blesh 1981, p. xxiii.
2. Berlin 1994, pp. 52, 56 & 58.
3. Berlin 1994, pp. 246-248.
4. Curtis 2004, pp. 37-8.
5. Whitcombe 1986, p. 24.
6. Jasen & Tichenor 1978, p. 88.
7. Davis 1995, pp. 67-68.
8. Williams 1987.
9. Scott & Rutkoff 2001, p. 37.
10. Kirk 2001, p. 190.
11. Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Editor's Note pix, Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works, New York Public Library, 1981.
12. Index p. 325, Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works, New York Public Library, 1981.
13. Berlin 1904, p. 265.
14. Berlin 1904, p. 268.
15. Berlin 1994, p. 265.
16. Berlin 1994, p. 268.
17. Berlin 1994, p. 269.
18. Berlin 1994, p. 264.
19. Berlin 1994, p. 267.
20. Berlin 1994, p. 263.
21. Berlin 1994, p. 260.
22. Berlin 1994, p. 261.
23. Berlin 1994, p. 131.
24. Berlin 1994, p. 266.
25. Berlin 1994, p. 262.
26. Berlin 1994, p. 169.
27. Berlin 1994, p. 270.
28. Berlin 1994, pp. 235, 262.
29. Berlin 1994, pp. 235, 264.
30. Berlin 1994, pp. 235, 268.

Bibliography

• Berlin, Edward A. (1994). King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era. Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-510108-1.
• Blesh, Rudi (1981). "Scott Joplin: Black-American Classicist". In Lawrence, Vera Brodsky. Scott Joplin Complete Piano Works. New York Public Library. ISBN 0-87104-272-X.
• Curtis, Susan (1999). Christensen, Lawrence O, ed. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Univ. of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1222-0. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
• Davis, Francis (1995). The History of the Blues:The Roots, the Music, the People. Hyperion. ISBN 0-306-81296-7.
• Jasen, David A.; Tichenor, Trebor Jay (1978). Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-25922-6.
• Kirk, Elise Kuhl (2001). American Opera. Univ. of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02623-3.
• Morath, Max (2005). Kirchner, Bill, ed. The Oxford Companion to Jazz. Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-518359-2.
• Scott, William B.; Rutkoff, Peter M (2001). New York Modern: The Arts and the City. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press. ISBN 0-8018-6793-2.
• Whitomb, Ian (1986). After the Ball. Hal Leonard Corp. ISBN 0-87910-063-X.
• Williams, Martin, ed. (1987). The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 0-393-99342-6.