Pianophilia

Hello again,

Here's the next rag, which has some nice passages in it. At first I puzzled over the title, until I realized that "Yoestic" is an anagram for "Society" as the subtitle on the cover is "A Society Rag." (For any foreign readers, "an anagram for 'Society'" means the letters of the word "Society" were rearranged to make "Yoestic.") The composer of this rag, Harry Nicholas Koverman (November 15, 1884--September 25, 1962), was only 19 years old when it was copyrighted.

Enjoy!

Rob

Hi again everyone!

Today's offering is my transcription of a piano roll (yes, I'm aware there's a separate thread for piano roll transcriptions, but since this is also a rag, I decided to post it in both threads so no interested parties would miss it). This is truly a great rag (I don't say that lightly) which has some boogie woogie bass, a blues strain and a pure ragtime strain. Though it exists in two different piano roll arrangements, no copies of the score have ever been found. The late great piano roll collector, Mike Montgomery, offered $50 for a copy of the original sheet music in a 1985 issue of "Sheet Music Exchange." Mike is the one who thought it had been published around 1918--that's my only source for the date of publication. I made sure the piano roll was playable by two normal hands, but any other simplifying I leave to you, the performer. For example, we all know that last bar is the work of the arranger, not George Thomas, but it's playable.

This transcription would not have been possible if Frank Himpsl hadn't made a scan of the original piano roll and converted it into a midi. So thanks, Frank, for all that you've done (and do) for the ragtime community!

BTW, the midi is of my transcription, not the original roll.

Best to all,

Rob

Thank you Martin and Rob.

You're quite welcome, Jean-Séb!

Hello again everyone,

I'd meant to post this on July 4 (Independence Day, a holiday in the USA) as "Yankee" is in the title and the cover has a drawing of "Uncle Sam." (For non-US citizens... "Yankee" in this context means a resident of the USA. And, "Uncle Sam," whose initials are US and who wears the colors of our flag, represents the US government.) A ragtime friend found this piece in the Cincinnati Public library about a decade ago. It's by the composer of the rag "Lemons" and was published during the same year by the same publisher.

"Cut Up" was a literary term for for cutting text into pieces then rearranging them and this appears to be a medley (I say "appears" as I still need to identify one melody). It opens with a ragtime arrangement of "Annie Laurie" and closes with a ragtime arrangement of "Home, Sweet Home." "Yankee Doodle" appears in 3 separate places (it's not syncopated, but the accompaniment, which is in the right hand, is only on the off beat). And, there's also an arrangement of "Dixie."

The tune I can't identify is scored in the first 8 bars of the third page (numbered page 4). I would greatly appreciate someone naming that tune. Thanks in advance!

Hope you find this interesting!

Best,

Rob

Hi Rob,

Thanks for posting this number by Ollie McHugh. I wasn't aware of any tunes by him other than "Lemons." As far as the unidentified 8 bars you ask about, well I think this is McHugh's slightly more syncopated arrangement of one of the old Irish Reels, entitled "Miss McLeod's Reel." It's the only jig or reel tune I can remember which bears similarity to the melody, and while the similarity isn't exact I believe it's close enough to call. Oddly enough, the Sibley Library of Rochester University just posted a collection of fiddle tunes, in which "Miss McLeod's Reel" is included as selection #35.

https://urresearch.rochester.edu/instit ... onNumber=1

I always felt that fiddle music, folk music of the English, Irish and Scottish countrysides, is one of the true roots of ragtime. It certainly came over with the earliest colonists, and its widespread popularity in the deep south (bluegrass) might be traced to John Ogelthorpe's original Georgia colony, which of course was essentially a penal colony in the earliest days. Fiddle music is not generally syncopated, although examples of syncopation do exist. However, the beloved "three over four" pattern of so much ragtime (e.g. Bill Pickles) is overwhelmingly present throughout.

All Best,

Frank

Hi Frank!

Thanks so much for solving my mystery! I really appreciate it. And, thanks for the link! I'm always excited to learn of new items of interest being posted online. Intriguing that with all the emphasis of America on the cover, that some of the tunes did not originate in America.

I really like Bluegrass and can hear that ragtime connection. I've always been intrigued too, with rags that have a "Country" sound (at least to my ear) such as "Missouri Rag" (1900-Fitzgerald) a personal favorite of mine.

My very best,

Rob

Incidentally, speaking of new postings online (1st paragraph), if anyone out there knows of any uncommon rags recently posted please let us know. I just found a 1909 rag I'd never seen before called "Whistles" at the University of Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington http://digital.gonzaga.edu/cdm/search/c ... ort/ad/asc Unfortunately, there seemed to be no way to download it (if you can find a way please share it), so I enlarged each page and took screen shots ["PrtScr"] which I pasted into Paint then saved the shots as JPEG files.

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm posting 6 rarities. "1915" is a transcription of a piano roll cut in 1913 (I'm not sure who did the transcription, but by the looks of it, it might be the work of Tom Brier). Though "Curiosity" is subtitled "Rag Two-Step" there's not a lot of syncopation in the score whereas "A Daisy Girl" (a title that doesn't immediately evoke ragtime) is quite syncopated in every strain! I've included a midi scan of a piano roll of this piece--sorry I don't know the source of it. The composer of "A Daisy Girl," Louis Mentel, wrote all the rags for his publishing company in the first 10 years of its existence. His company picked up the Aufderheide catalog in the teens and reissued a lot of their rags. According to Jasen and Jones, his store in Cincinnati, Ohio, remained open until his death in 1955. I wonder if any ragtime fan ever dropped in and spoke with him?! Amazing isn't it, that the word "Novelty" in the subtitle of "Daffodils" had a completely different meaning in 1912 than it would ten years later when Zez Confrey and many others were releasing "Novelty Piano" solos. The "Ham Bones" color cover scan was posted once by a seller on eBay. The ragtimer who sent me a photocopy of "Japanese Rag," which has a bit of an oriental flavor but still sounds quite American, sent me a beautiful color copy of the cover, which I'm thrilled to be able to include here.

I only have midis for 3 of these pieces. As for the two I haven't mentioned... The "Ham Bones" piano roll scan was done by a student of the excellent second generation British ragtime composer, Tommy Gordon, who began composing ragtime in the late 1940's. My midi of "Japanese Rag" hasn't been proofread yet, but I know some of you like having a midi, so I've included it nonetheless.
Hope you all enjoy these postings!

Best to all,

Rob

Oops, I almost forgot, does anyone have the score to Webb Long's "Imp Rag"?

Thanks,

Rob

Hi Rob,

Thank you for your postings! Two of these pieces are extremely rare, and until your posting I had never seen the sheet music for them. These are "Daffodils Rag" by James E.C. Kelly and "A Daisy Girl" by Louis Mentel. Both were issued on rolls, and now we know they were also published in sheet music form. The source of the midi file for "A Daisy Girl" is almost certainly the collection of my late friend Trebor Tichenor. I scanned his copy of that 65-note roll, and had the midi file posted on-line in conjunction with a roll webpage several years ago.

I copied "Imp Rag" by Webb Long many years ago at the LOC and it's attached here. This is one of the most outrageous examples of ragtime piracy that I've ever come across. Only the first theme is original. The second theme is identical to the 2nd theme of Harry J. Lincoln's "Poverty Rag" published by Vandersloot. And the third theme will be recognized instantly as the trio of Tom Turpin's "A Ragtime Nighmare." As I recall, "Imp Rag" was published by Marsh & Needles in Wichita, KS, as were most or all of the other Webb Long rags.

I believe Webb Long was a pseudonym, most likely owing to the use of "stolen" themes. "Frosty Rag" is one of the Webb Long credits (available on a major university on-line sheet music site). The first strain of this tune is identical to the corresponding first strains of "Broadway Rag" by Eva Nieman (1910) and "The Purdue Spirit - Ragtime Two-Step" by Edward J. Freeburg. The latter tune was published in Indiana, and I don't recall the date but it's certainly ca. 1910. I might have posted "Broadway" on PP at some point.

The worst example of ragtime piracy I've ever come across involves musical theft from none other than James Scott. The second and third themes of his classic "Prosperity Rag" were used in a 1922 popular song entitled "Nothin' But," "composed" by Ferde Grofe and Adam Carroll. The trio of Scott's "Prosperity" was taken note-for-note as the verse of the 1922 song, and the very catchy 2nd strain of "Prosperity" likewise became the chorus of "Nothin' But." Both "Prosperity" and "Nothin' But" were copyrighted. I have no idea whether Stark Music (or Scott himself) ever attempted to sue over this. In the late 1930's Charles L. Johnson's indian intermezzo "Iola" was lifted for the popular song "Playmates" which became extremely popular. I've heard that Johnson did bring a suit over this, as "Iola" was a huge hit in its day.

Ironically, although the victim of what is certainly one of the most outrageous thefts in ragtime history, James Scott himself (probably unwittingly) used the theme of a popular 'teens song in one of his classic rags. The second theme of Scott's classic "Rag Sentimental" is virtually identical to an earlier popular song written by Al Piantadosi, entitled "I've Only One Idea About The Girls, And That's To Love 'Em." Mike Schwimmer brought that to my attention many years ago.

So enjoy "Imp Rag" and this little pirate history along with it.

All Best,

Frank H.

Frank, I think you for the most interesting rag history lesson and also the Imp Rag.