Larry Hamberlin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195338928
- eISBN:
- 9780199855865
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195338928.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Opera, Popular
This chapter and the next examine novelty songs that use both opera and ragtime to express tensions between highbrow and lowbrow culture, racializing them as tensions between white and black America. ...
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This chapter and the next examine novelty songs that use both opera and ragtime to express tensions between highbrow and lowbrow culture, racializing them as tensions between white and black America. Chapter 6 is an in-depth treatment of a single song, Ted Snyder and Irving Berlin's “That Opera Rag” (1910). Through a close reading of the music and lyrics, an examination of the song's use in a stage comedy, Getting a Polish, and a consideration of the stage persona of May Irwin, the actress who interpolated the song in that comedy, the chapter demonstrates how contemporary audiences could perceive multiple levels of meaning that interact in a complex piece of social and musical commentary.Less
This chapter and the next examine novelty songs that use both opera and ragtime to express tensions between highbrow and lowbrow culture, racializing them as tensions between white and black America. Chapter 6 is an in-depth treatment of a single song, Ted Snyder and Irving Berlin's “That Opera Rag” (1910). Through a close reading of the music and lyrics, an examination of the song's use in a stage comedy, Getting a Polish, and a consideration of the stage persona of May Irwin, the actress who interpolated the song in that comedy, the chapter demonstrates how contemporary audiences could perceive multiple levels of meaning that interact in a complex piece of social and musical commentary.
Edward A. Berlin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199740321
- eISBN:
- 9780190245221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740321.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Opera
Joplin met Joseph F. Lamb in late 1907 or early 1908 and urged Stark to publish his music. Over the next decade Stark was to publish a dozen rags by Lamb, these comprising the basis for Lamb’s ...
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Joplin met Joseph F. Lamb in late 1907 or early 1908 and urged Stark to publish his music. Over the next decade Stark was to publish a dozen rags by Lamb, these comprising the basis for Lamb’s reputation. Stark also published Fig Leaf Rag (1908), the last new Joplin piece he was to issue. Joplin’s next eight piano works, in 1908/9, were published by Seminary Music, associated with Ted Snyder Music. One of these eight was Paragon Rag, which he dedicated to the CVBA—Colored Vaudeville Benevolent Association—an important professional and fraternal organization. Another was Euphonic Sounds, which he and others considered one of his most innovative rags. Joplin reportedly had resumed music studies, probably to enhance his opera; this may have been with opera coach Bruto Giannini, with whom he would study a few years later.Less
Joplin met Joseph F. Lamb in late 1907 or early 1908 and urged Stark to publish his music. Over the next decade Stark was to publish a dozen rags by Lamb, these comprising the basis for Lamb’s reputation. Stark also published Fig Leaf Rag (1908), the last new Joplin piece he was to issue. Joplin’s next eight piano works, in 1908/9, were published by Seminary Music, associated with Ted Snyder Music. One of these eight was Paragon Rag, which he dedicated to the CVBA—Colored Vaudeville Benevolent Association—an important professional and fraternal organization. Another was Euphonic Sounds, which he and others considered one of his most innovative rags. Joplin reportedly had resumed music studies, probably to enhance his opera; this may have been with opera coach Bruto Giannini, with whom he would study a few years later.
