One For The Weekend: Scott Joplin (1867/68-1917) – Gladiolus Rag

Scott Joplin was an African-American composer and pianist.
Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas.
Earlier this week I shared Joplin\’s The Entertainer, which is quite frenetic compared to this more sedate example of the Ragtime genre. I chose this because I don\’t feel it\’s too well known compared to some of his other work – Maple Leaf Rag being another well-known piece of Joplin\’s music. Gladiolus Rag is, musically, quite a bit more sophisticated overall with interesting shifts between chords. But even though there are many similarities between this and Maple Leaf Rag, to me this feels more like an evolution of the latter than simply taking it and shuffling notes around!
Have a lovely weekend. Thanks for your continued interest in this project.