Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

Scott Joplin, the King of Ragtime, is among the composers on this list. He is profiled at my website, www.AfriClassical.com Joplin was living in Sedalia, Missouri when his sheet music piece "Maple Leaf Rag" became a blockbuster success. However, this famous Missouri resident also wrote a variety of classical works, including three operas. One of the operas is "Treemonisha", a morality tale about the bonds of ignorance and superstition. Joplin's efforts to stage the work failed, leaving it to Gunther Schuller to conduct the work in Houston in the 1970s. It is important to remember this composer's contributions to classical music as well as to ragtime.
 

Wow--that's a great web site.

The bios of various composers--including Joplin--are very well done.