A Little bit about Ragtime
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009There is much more to Ragtime than Scott Joplin’s “the Entertainer” , immortalized in the Robert Redford movie “The Sting” in 1973. The Entertainer rag dates back to 1902.
Introduction to the Wikipedia Ragtime page:
Ragtime (alternately spelled Rag-time) is an originally American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Ragtime was the first truly American musical genre, predating jazz.It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published as popular sheet music for piano.
In the 40s jazz bands started to include ragtime, leading to some ragtime versions on the old 78 RPM records. A bigger revival occurred in the 1950s.
The Wiki article conclusion:
Ragtime has been seen by some critics as an important influence on American music in the 20th Century.[5] Ragtime (with Joplin’s work in the forefront of the movement) has been compared to an American equivalent of minuets by Mozart, mazurkas by Chopin or waltzes by Brahms.[9] Ragtime influenced Classical composers including Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky.[10]
