Berlin, an expert on the world of ragtime whose two previous books on it are standards, proffers a splendid new study of the acknowledged king of the music, a life-and-works that exhaustively details the particulars of Joplin's biography. Berlin places the composer squarely in context, from his childhood in Texarkana, and his life in Sedalia (Missouri) and St. Louis, through his troubled last years in New York, during which he attempted, without success, to stage his grand opera, Treemonisha. Berlin is enabled in his task by newly discovered documentation that allows him to replace with reliable facts the myths and unsupported anecdotes previously used in the composer's biography. Among the discoveries are the true identity of the titular heroine of Joplin's opera--a woman Joplin loved and lost to death--and the revelation that Joplin "collaborated" with Irving Berlin: Joplin apparently believed Berlin's hit "Alexander's Ragtime Band" was based on materials plagiarized from his work. Essential in any library concerned with American music. ~--John Shreffler

With this updated edition of his biography of Joplin (first published in 1994), Berlin adds to the literature a great deal of information about the composer's early musical career, his personality, and his personal life (including newfound information about Joplin's first wife, Freddie Alexander, who died just three months after they were married). Berlin's reassessment benefits from two decades of writings on Joplin, access to newspapers and documents unavailable in the 1990s, and exploration of 1970s and 1980s lawsuits over Joplin's creative property. The volume abounds with musical excerpts and engaging descriptions of Joplin's life and important events. For example, readers learn about Joplin's pre-ragtime career as a quartet singer during the time of minstrelsy. One learns that Joplin dedicated "The Chrysanthemum" to his first wife, information found only on his copyright submission to the Library of Congress. Berlin also looks into the publication history of Joplin's other works, including his opera Treemonisha, published in 1911 but virtually unheard of until its revival in 1972. A vital resource for those interested in Joplin and the development of ragtime, and American music in general, during the early years of the 20th century. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, Westfield State University

Joplin knew he had a distinctive talent and so did several well-placed contemporaries, yet he never realized widespread acclaim during his lifetime (1868-1917). If he were alive today he could revel in the unique ways his music has placed him at the top: concert artists' repertoire; film music; an annual festival; even a postage stamp. Still, information on Joplin has been sparse. Here Berlin (author of Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History, LJ 3/1/80) helps by examining dates and events that are in question. Berlin provides two interesting features: a detailed listing of music published and copyrighted by Joplin during his lifetime and the music and text of three songs arranged by Joplin that were left out of NYPL's definitive The Complete Works of Scott Joplin (1981). Readers will want to compare Berlin's book with Susan Curtis's Dancing to a Black Man's Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin (LJ 4/15/94). Recommended for American music collections.-Kathleen Sparkman, Baylor Univ., Waco, Tex. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Although he did not invent ragtime, Joplin (1868-1917) is the best-known exponent of this type of jazz, with its characteristic syncopated rhythms. Berlin (Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History) shows how Joplin launched his career in the black social clubs of Sedalia, Mo.; achieved success with the Maple Leaf Rag; and went on to win the respect of whites as well as his fellow African Americans, composing numerous rags and two operas, A Guest of Honor (now lost) and Treemonisha. Joplin, whose father was born into slavery, aspired to transcend his humble origins, but because details of his personal history are elusive, Berlin's conclusions about Joplin's often unhappy life and personal relationships tend to be speculative. The author lands on solid ground, however, with his analysis of Joplin's sophisticated and innovative compositions, demonstrating clearly how he expanded the language of ragtime. In the final chapter, Berlin brings the story full circle with a comprehensive summary of the fate of ragtime from its eclipse in the 1920s and 1930s to its comeback in the 1940s and the revival of Joplin's work still going on today. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The second biography of legendary ragtime composer Joplin to appear this year (the first was Susan Curtis's Dancing to a Black Man's Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin, p. 450), written from the perspective of a musicologist. Like Curtis, Berlin (Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History, 1980) is frustrated by the scarcity of evidence--either oral or documentary--that remains about Joplin's life. His whereabouts for entire years are missing, and the reasons for several key decisions that he made regarding the publication and performance of his music are shrouded in mystery. Thus, while Berlin gives a more-or-less straightforward chronological account, he is often reduced to making educated guesses. Given these drawbacks, Berlin has done a dogged job of digging up what little documentary evidence exists; he even proves that Joplin had a second wife, who died shortly after their marriage. He analyzes Joplin's musical compositions at length, in language that graduate students of musicology will enjoy (``[Joplin] had discovered the propulsive power of...goal directed voice-leading''), if not the general reader. Berlin's insights into Joplin's compositional process are enlightening; he reveals that the composer worked on paper, enabling him to create unusually complex harmonic structures. Joplin was only a mediocre pianist himself, and so rarely performed; he even had to learn to play some of his harder pieces. Berlin also goes beyond analyzing the ragtime compositions (``Maple Leaf Rag,'' ``The Entertainer'') that are most closely associated with the composer, giving balanced and generally fair accounts of Joplin's popular songs, parlor piano pieces, and his ill-fated opera, Treemonisha. The book concludes with a brief history of the ragtime revival and a complete list of Joplin's works. Together, Curtis and Berlin give about as much information as we can hope for on this important American composer. For one-stop shoppers, Berlin edges out the competition, thanks to his more thorough knowledge of music. (Illustrations, not seen)