Maple Leaf Rag

Lore & Background

The "Maple Leaf Rag" is associated with Sedalia, Missouri, where Joplin lived from around 1894 to 1901, including a residence at 121 West Main Street. He arrived in Sedalia in 1894 as a touring musician and stayed with the family of Arthur Marshall, who later became a student and ragtime composer. Joplin played at dances and black clubs, including the Maple Leaf Club, which may have inspired the piece's name, though no direct evidence confirms this. The rag was known in Sedalia before its 1899 publication; composer Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript around 1898.

The exact circumstances of its publication are unknown, with contradictory versions. Joplin signed a contract with John Stillwell Stark on August 10, 1899, for a one-cent royalty per copy, with a minimum sales price of 25 cents. The piece was published in September 1899, with the copyright registration date on September 18, 1899, and deposit copies received by the Library of Congress on September 20, 1899. It was reissued in 1900 or 1901 with a new cover showing a green maple leaf and a photograph of Joplin. In 1903, Stark issued a "Maple Leaf Rag Song" with lyrics by Sydney Brown.

The piece is a multi-strain ragtime march with athletic bass lines and offbeat melodies. It is more carefully constructed than almost all previous rags, and its syncopations, especially in the transition between the first and second strain, were novel. It is considered moderately difficult to play, requiring good left-hand coordination, particularly for the trio's two-octave leaps. When published, it was considered significantly more difficult than average Tin Pan Alley and early ragtime sheet music.

Reader's Guide

The "Maple Leaf Rag" holds a central place in ragtime history as the archetypal rag, its structure forming the basis for many later rags, including Joseph Lamb's "Sensation." Joplin's later composition "Gladiolus Rag" is a developed variant, and the first strains of "The Cascades," "The Sycamore," "Leola," and "Sugar Cane" are modeled on its first strain. Despite ragtime's decline after Joplin's death in 1917, the piece continued to be recorded by many well-known artists. The ragtime revival of the 1970s brought it back to mainstream notice. Sales claims vary: initial print-run of 400 took a year to sell, but later sales provided Joplin a steady income. In 1909, estimated sales gave him about $600 annually. The piece was popular in orchestrations for dance and brass bands. Early recordings include a 1906 United States Marine Band record, the earliest surviving. Joplin's own 1916 piano roll of the piece is described as "painfully bad" due to his declining health. The tune remained in jazz band repertoire for decades, and in 1970 Joshua Rifkin's recording on Nonesuch became a million-selling record, peaking on Billboard classical charts in 1974.

Did You Know?

• The "Maple Leaf Rag" was named after the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, though there is no direct evidence proving the link.
• Joplin's contract with John Stillwell Stark gave him a royalty of one cent per copy, with a minimum sales price of 25 cents.
• The earliest surviving recording of the rag is by the United States Marine Band from 1906.
• In 1903, Stark issued a "Maple Leaf Rag Song" with lyrics by Sydney Brown, telling a story of a poor man from Accomack County, Virginia.