Wall Street Rag
in C major
Scott Joplin 1868–1917
C major
Key
Slow march tempo
Tempo
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Difficulty
Our estimate Intermediate
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Themes & character
Programmatic strain titles·Financial panic subject·Published 1909·Ragtime as narrative
At a glance
- Key
- C major
- Tempo / character
- Slow march tempo
About the piece
Published in 1909, this is Joplin's most explicitly programmatic rag: he headed each of its four strains with a caption telling a story in sequence. Panic in Wall Street, brokers feeling melancholy, gives way to Good times coming, then Good times have come, and finally Listening to the strains of genuine negro ragtime, brokers forget their cares.
The captions are pointed as well as playful, claiming for ragtime the power to lift the mood of the financial district in the aftermath of the 1907 panic.
The composer
Scott Joplin
1868–1917
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons.
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