Scott Joplin

The Entertainer

Scott Joplin, American ragtime pianist and composer, was born in Texarkana, Texas in 1865. He learned how to play the piano from a German musician who introduced him to the great European composers. Between 1885 and 1893, Joplin played in honkytonks and saloons in Saint-Louis. Beginning in 1894, he played the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia and gave music lessons. Soon after, he devoted his efforts solely to composition, and in 1909, he moved to New York. Joplin composed over 600 ragtimes, a symphony, and two operas (Treemonisha, 1911). He is known as the King of Ragtime, and is an unquestioned master of melodic invention. He died in New York in 1917. The world famous piece adapted here, The Entertainer, was written in 1902 and became the theme song of the movie The Sting in 1974.