Magnetic Rag
in B♭ major
Scott Joplin 1868–1917
B♭ major
Key
Allegretto
Tempo
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Themes & character
His last published rag·Self-published·Unusually ambitious form·Published 1914
At a glance
- Key
- B♭ major
- Tempo / character
- Allegretto
About the piece
Published in 1914, this was the last rag Joplin issued in his lifetime, brought out through his own publishing company after his relationships with commercial publishers had frayed. He died three years later.
It is the most harmonically adventurous and formally ambitious of all his rags, moving through minor-key episodes and returning to its opening strain at the close, a device more common in classical rondo form than in ragtime. Its subtitle, Syncopations Classiques, restates the claim he made his whole career.
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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