Jasen and Tichenor (1987:83) describe Joplin's compositions in these terms:

Fortunately, Joplin's rags have been widely recorded (see below) and published and there is much commentary on his music available. The launch of the movie The Sting in 1973, which featured a number of Scott Joplin compositions as part of the soundtrack, was responsible for extending the ragtime revival of the 1950's to the present day (with Joplin's The Entertainer, featured in the movie, making it in the "Top 10" of the "Songs of the Century" as determined by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment of the Arts). Ironically, the movie was set during the Depression, about 10 to 20 years after ragtime's heyday, making the music of Joplin chosen for the movie slightly anachronistic.

• Most references cite November 24, 1868, as the date Scott Joplin was born, but research by Berlin (1995:4-5) suggests that this date, based on what is likely the faulty memory of Joplin's widow, may be in error. Census data surrounding Joplin's age is also inconsistent and hence inconclusive. Despite this, Joplin's date of birth is likely sometime in 1868, give or take a small period of time. In his online biography of Scott Joplin, Berlin suggests that Joplin was most likely born sometime between June 1867 and mid-January 1868.

• Joplin grew up in a musical family, likely initially in northeastern Texas. He had an older brother (Monroe) and a younger brother (Robert) and three younger siblings. At some point, the family moved to Texarkana, possibly as early as 1875 when Scott Joplin would have been around 7 years old (Berlin, 1995:7). Brother Robert himself became a well known dancer and vaudevillian (Berlin, 1995:7).

• Joplin showed some promise as a youth on the piano and took lessons from various local piano teachers. Of note, most biographers emphasize the influence that Julius Weiss, a German piano teacher, had on shaping Joplin's early musical influences (Berlin, 1995:7; Jasen and Jones, 2000:26). For a good overview of Joplin's early life, see Addison Reed's chapter entitled "Scott Joplin: Pioneer" in JE Hasse, ed, Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1985:117-36.

• Scott Joplin formed a vocal quartet that performed in Texarkana; in addition, Joplin appears to have played piano there in dance halls and taught guitar and mandolin (Berlin, 1995:7).

• It appears that Joplin left Texarkana sometime in his teens, likely pursuing life on the saloon and honky-tonk circuit throughout Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky as a pianist (Berlin, 1995:8). Berlin raises the possibility that Joplin lived in Sedalia, Missouri, during this time and even went to Lincoln High School, an all black school in that city (Berlin, 1995:8).

• In 1891, Joplin was part of the Texarkana Ministrels that faced some controversy at a performance in Texarkana that summer where it turned out that part of the proceeds were being raised for Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederate States of America and supporter of slavery (Berlin, 1995:9-10).

• Joplin lived in Sedalia from approximately 1894 to 1901, after which he moved to St Louis. Berlin (1995:13-23) describes Sedalia at that time as a thriving city with opportunities for blacks despite it being a largely segregated community. The city housed the George R Smith College for black students where it is believed that Joplin took music courses (Jasen and Tichenor, 1987:82). Sedalia also hosted the black Queen City Cornet Band and a number of honky-tonks along Main Street.

• It is likely that Joplin toured a fair bit during this time with his Texas Medley Quartette. Berlin (1995:26) notes that two of Joplin's early songs, Please Say You Will (below) and A Picture of Her Face (below) (both from 1895) were published in New York state, likely as a result of a tour to that region by the Texas Medley Quartette.

• Berlin also notes that since Joplin had three pieces published in Texas (The Great Crush Collision March, Harmony Club Waltzes, and Combination March, all available below), so it is likely that Joplin also spent time in Temple, Texas, likely on tour (1995:27). It is not clear whether Joplin himself witnessed the "Great Crush Collision" of trains staged on September 15, 1896 (which resulted inadvertently in the death of three spectators), but Joplin's composition named after this event was published one month later (more information on the historical "collision" event is available here and here).

• It appears that Joplin taught piano to students and was also a mentor to a number of up and coming ragtimers, including Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden and Brun Campbell (Berlin, 1995:31). Despite this, most authors suggest that Joplin was likely not much of an entertainer on the keyboard and was considered only a competent pianist, especially when compared to the theatrics of many of the contemporary "rag thumpers" of the time (Jasen and Tichenor, 1987:85-86).

• Sedalia was also home to two black social clubs, the Black 400 Club and the Maple Leaf Club, that hosted dances and social activities, some of which included white residents as guests. (Berlin, 1995:34-44) provides a fascinating look at the history of these clubs, their competition with each other, their role in promoting ragtime music, and their ultimate demise in early 1900 when they were shut down by the city.

• Berlin (1995:47) documents that Joplin likely had written Original Rags (below) as early as 1897 and had tried unsuccessfully to publish that piece, along with Maple Leaf Rag (below) and possibly Sunflower Slow Drag (below), in 1898 with AW Perry & Son in Sedalia. Joplin was successful in having Original Rags published by Carl Hoffman (Kansas City) (Jasen and Jones, 2000:27), but Berlin (1995:48) doubts that Charles Daniels actually arranged Original Rags (as is indicated on the cover, here).

• Joplin's most famous composition, the Maple Leaf Rag (below), was published by John Stark, then of Sedalia. Many commentators have noted the importance to Joplin of Stark granting a one-percent royalty for the composition since the composition subsequently sold very well, possibly as high as one half-million copies (Berlin, 1995:58). The original cover of Maple Leaf Rag (below) was an advertisement from the American Tobacco Company portraying the famous vaudevillians, Bert Williams and George Walker (and their dance partners and future wives).

• One of the many "myths" surrounding Joplin and his work is the naming of The Maple Leaf Rag and whether it was named after the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia. One theory is that there is a Canadian connection to the composition (since the maple leaf was a recognized national symbol in Canada since at least the mid 1850's with the Maple Leaf Forever, available here in PDF, being composed in 1867, for example). One possible theory, I think unlikely, is that Joplin named the piece to commemorate the Underground Railway to Canada (discussed here in Ragtime Music in Canada) (Berlin, 1995:61). Another theory connected to the composition, or at least to the Maple Leaf Club, is that the "Maple Leaf Club," which was owned by Will and Walker Williams who were from London, Ontario, was named for Canada's symbol: Timothy McGee, The Music of Canada. New York: WW Norton, 1985. Berlin, on the other hand, has a much more practical explanation: Sedalia was a city whose streets were lined with maple trees and there was a current vogue in town to name things after leaves and trees: Berlin, 1995:62. Joplin also used arboreal and floral themes for naming a number of his subsequent rags.

• During the time Joplin was in Sedalia, he is believed to have married Belle Hayden, the widow of Scott Hayden's brother: Berlin, 1995:84. However, the couple separated around 1903 shortly after the death of their infant daughter.

• Compared to Sedalia, St Louis in 1901 was a much larger and more vibrant city. Berlin notes that Joplin first moved to the city's red-light district which was "a major center for the early development of black Midwestern ragtime" (1995:89).

• This was a prolific time for Joplin, with a number of his compositions being published in St Louis by John Stark, who had also moved to St Louis.

• In 1903, Joplin filed a copyright application for an opera called Guest of Honor, which was briefly performed on tour, but unfortunately, Joplin was unable to cover the payroll after a certain point, and his possessions, including the score to the opera, were seized, and to this date, no known copy of Guest of Honor has survived (Berlin, 1995: Chapter 7).

• In 1904, the St Louis World Fair (the Louisiana Purchase Exposition) brought a number of ragtime pianists to the area. It would have been an exciting time to hear ragtime piano (although the Fair was not without controversy because of the continuing discrimination that blacks faced). Berlin, for example, describes a "cutting contest" between Tom Turpin and Louis Chauvin (Chauvin won) (1995:134).

• It is likely that Joplin wrote The Cascades (below) to commemorate the Cascades Gardens at the World Fair, pictured on the cover of his sheet music (see below).

• Also in 1904, Joplin met a 19-year old woman, Freddie Alexander, to whom he dedicated The Chrysanthemum (below). They were married shortly thereafter on June 14, 1904. After the marriage, the couple went to Sedalia where Joplin performed. However, his new wife took sick and eventually died of pneumonia on September 10, 1904. Berlin (1995:208) has an interesting theory that Joplin may have memorialized Freddie in the main character in his opera Treemonisha.

• During the two and one half years following the death of Freddie, Berlin (1995:161) notes that Joplin's output was significantly diminished with the publication of only three new rags (Leola, Eugenia, and The Nonpareil, all below), Bethena (below) and a number of less successful compositions.

• In 1905, John Stark opened an office in New York (Berlin, 1995:151). However, it appears that Stark found the sheet music industry in New York cutthroat and extremely competitive since he only lasted in New York until 1910 (Berlin, 1995:195).

• Joplin moved to New York, likely in the summer of 1907.

• Berlin (1995:223-25) discusses detailed research regarding Lottie Joplin, who Joplin "married" (likely in a common law marriage) sometime in the late 1910's. Lottie also ran a boarding house and appears to have managed some of Joplin's late career, being a partner in Scott Joplin Music Publishing Ltd, which published Magnetic Rag in 1914 (below). Lottie survived Scott Joplin's death and continued to be involved in the affairs of his estate by renewing copyrights in his compositions. Berlin discusses some of the litigation surrounding Joplin's estate in Chapter 13 of his book.

• Joplin made contact with several new publishers in New York, including:

• Joseph Stern, who published Gladious Rag (1907) (below), Searchlight Rag (1907) (below), Stoptime Rag (1910) (below) and Scott Joplin's New Rag (1912) (below);

• Joseph Daly, who published Rose Leaf Rag (1907) (below); and,

• Seminary Music, who was the selling agent for Joplin's piano exercises entitled School of Ragtime (1908) (below) and who also published Sugar Cane (1908) (below), Pine Apple Rag (1908) (below), Wall Street Rag (1909) (below), Solace: A Mexican Serenade (1909) (below), Pleasant Moments: Ragtime Waltz (1909) (below), Country Club (1909) (below), Paragon Rag (1909) (below), and Euphonic Sounds (1909) (below).

• It is likely that Joplin explored publishers other than John Stark due in part to a growing rift between the two men regarding Stark's reluctance to pay royalties (Berlin, 1995:186).

• Late in 1907, it is believed that Joplin met with Joseph Lamb in Stark's New York store (Berlin, 1995:173). Later Lamb visited Joplin and played several of his rags. It is likely that Joplin played an influential role in having Lamb's compositions published with Stark. Evidence of this is Joplin being named as "arranger" of Sensation (available here), although it is likely that Lamb wrote and arranged the piece himself.

• Despite his increasingly declining health, life in New York was relatively good for Joplin, where he was enjoying some public success (Berlin, 1995: 192):

In New York, he displayed a renewed vigor. In a span of two and a half years he had sixteen publications: twelve independent rags, one collaborative rag, one syncopated waltz, one habanera and one instruction manual. Many of these publications were artistic successes, both developing ideas introduced earlier and pointing to new directions in ragtime.

• Berlin (1995:233) effectively summarizes Joplin's last years in New York, a time when his compositions were growing in complexity at the same time his health was seriously declining:

Though the 46-year old Joplin was almost at the end of his career, in seriously declining health, he was not declining as a musician. He was still master of his craft, at the height of his creative powers. He was continuing to respond to his musical environment, thinking in new ways, creating a new type of ragtime. This was a growing, dynamic composer betrayed by a failing body.

• Joplin became quite sick in early 1917 and entered Bellevue Hospital. On February 3, 1917, he was transferred to the mental ward of Manhattan State Hospital. He died there on April 1, 1917, at the age of approximately 49 from "demential paralytica" likely caused by syphillis: Berlin (1995:238).

• Stark published Reflection Rag (below), which Joplin likely wrote in around 1907, as a tribute to Joplin after Joplin died (Berlin, 1995:240).

• Joplin also achieved posthumous fame in a number of other ways, including the staging of Treemonisha on Broadway and other venues (including a performance to be scheduled in Toronto by Volcano Theatre likely sometime in 2022), having his music featured in the 1973 movie The Sting, being awarded a special Bicentennial Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his contribution to American music, having Billy Dee Williams portray him in a 1977 movie about his life, and having his portrait issued on an American stamp in 1983.

• Berlin, Edward. King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016 [book details from edwardaberlin.com/works.htm].

• Berlin, Edward. Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1980.
  

• Blesh, Rudi & Harriet Grossman Janis. They All Played Ragtime, 4th ed. New York: Oak Publications, 1966 [Internet Archive version].

• Curtis, Susan. Dancing to a Black Man's Tune. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1994 [Internet Archive version].
  

• Frew, Timothy. Scott Joplin and the Age of Ragtime. New York: Friedman Fairfax, 1996.

• Gammond, Peter. Scott Joplin and the Ragtime Era. London: Angus & Robertson, 1975 [Internet Archive version].
  

• Hasse, JE, ed. Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1985 [Internet Archive version].

• Hubbard-Brown, Janet. Scott Joplin. New York: Chelsea House, 2006 [Internet Archive version].

• Jasen, David & Gene Jones."Chapter 1: Scott Joplin" in Black Bottom Stomp: Eight Masters of Ragtime and Early Jazz. New York: Rutledge, 2002.
  

• Jasen, David & Gene Jones. That American Rag: The Story of Ragtime from Coast to Coast. New York: Schirmer Books, 2000 [Internet Archive version].

• Jasen, David & Trebor Jay Tichenor. Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York: Dover Publications, 1978 [Internet Archive version].

• Piras, Marcello. "Treemonisha, or Der Freischütz Upside Down" (2012) 4 Current Research in Jazz, available online: http://www.crj-online.org/v4/CRJ-Treemonisha.php.

• Ping-Robbins, Nancy. Scott Joplin: A Guide to Research. New York: Garland Pub, 1998.

• Reed, Addison. "Scott Joplin: Pioneer" in JE Hasse, ed, Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1985:117-36 [Internet Archive version].
  

• Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation. Home page: <http://www.scottjoplin.org/>.

• Total Joplin: The Complete Works of Scott Joplin (CD-ROM, Sunhawk, 1996). Introduction by Trebor Tichenor. Introduces the user to the life and music of America's ragtime composer Scott Joplin. Includes the complete collection of scores and digitally restored sheet music covers, rarely published Williams-Walker prints, a multimedia review of Joplin's life, and more than five hours of classic ragtime hits.

• Waldo, Terry. This is Ragtime. New York: De Capo Press, 1991 [Internet Archive version].