Scott Joplin - Wall Street Rag (1909)

Details

Description

American ragtime composer Scott Joplin’s “Wall Street Rag” is a programmatic piece written in 1909, inspired by the Panic of 1907 that happened a few years earlier. During the Panic, the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% in value from the previous year.

The piece is in ABCD form, containing four strains. It begins in a dolorous and pensive C Major section to express the desolation stockbrokers feel after watching their holdings plummet during the Panic. The next strain, also in C Major, indicates via its slightly improving mood that economic recovery is on the way. With the onset of the third section, in F Major, the atmosphere is still cautious and lacking in confidence, but is nowhere near as sad as the first strain. The economy, as indicated by the piece’s narrative, is experiencing a period of revitalization and normalcy. Once the final strain occurs, the erstwhile-desperate stockbrokers are listening to African-American music that soothed the savage beast within them. The tone clusters, predating its common use in the popular styles that emerged from ragtime, recall the bustling nature of the early Tin Pan Alley, and brings a sense of leisure (or as the annotations say “forget their cares”) to the rag that has not occurred up until the point.


Date: 1909
Performer: Phillip Dyson on piano


Note: This channel does not own the score or audio, and they are only used for non-commercial purposes.