Ragtime Music

The Ragtime Story The history of ragtime is mirrored in the life and progress of Scott Joplin. This is not merely because Joplin was one of the great ragtime composers. The King of Ragtime experienced many of the elements whose confluence developed into those Euphonic Sounds which were the musical delight of America and even Europe at the turn of the century. The birth of ragtime is commonly set by the date of the first …

…to Louis Moreau Gottschalk. This marked another avenue for the entry of African elements into ragtime, as Gottschalk had incorporated African, Caribbean, and Creole rhythms and melodies into many of his works. Joplin was also exposed to opera, a bug which infected him more later in life as he strove to produce ragtime operas. After the death of his mother in 1882, young Scott struck out on his own to make his fortune shaping America's music.