Silver Swan Rag

"The Silver Swan" by Scott Joplin is a ragtime composition for piano. It is the only known Joplin composition to be originally released on piano roll instead of in musical notation.^[1]

The overall structure of the piece is:^[2]

Intro AA BB A CC Intro A

The structure is unusual for a Joplin rag; Edwards characterized it as a rondo. The recapitulation of the A strain at the end is also found in "Magnetic Rag" and "Scott Joplin's New Rag", which appeared about the same time.^[1]

The introduction and the A strain are both in B-flat major. At the start of the B strain, the piece modulates to G minor. Edwards describes this section as "well developed".^[1]

The C strain is in E-flat major. The phrasing is notably uncharacteristic of Joplin rags. While it was typical to repeat the beginning phrase at the halfway point of a strain, or otherwise lead into a different melody that resolves by the sixteenth bar, here it abruptly pauses at the eighth bar before modulating to C minor in the ninth bar. The rhythmic momentum later does not subside on the tonic chord during the first repeat ending of the strain but rather continues as the strain is repeated. The phrasing is then perceived as starting at the ninth bar and ending on the eighth bar through the repeat. Jasen and Tichenor wrote that it "sounds as though it consists of three fragments put together".^[2]

"Silver Swan Rag" was never copyrighted or published in Joplin's lifetime. Though two companies (QRS Music Roll Company and National) issued piano roll recordings of it in 1914, the piece was neglected for many years.

Interest in Joplin's music revived in the 1960s. In 1970, a copy of the National roll (which did not credit Joplin) was discovered in the garage of a collector. While some doubted its authenticity, the piece was transcribed into musical notation for inclusion in Vera Brodsky Lawrence's The Collected Works of Scott Joplin, published in 1971. The copyright for "Silver Swan Rag" was assigned to the Lottie Joplin Thomas Trust. Later in the 1970s, concerns about the piece's authenticity were allayed by the discovery of the QRS roll, which credited Joplin as the composer.^[1]

• List of compositions by Scott Joplin

• Jasen, David A.; Trebor Jay Tichenor (1978). Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 99–100. ISBN 0-486-25922-6.

• audio recording

Complete List of Works by Scott Joplin

Full List

• Compositions

Piano rags

• "Original Rags" (1899)
• "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899)
• "Peacherine Rag" (1901)
• "The Easy Winners" (1901)
• "A Breeze From Alabama" (1902)
• "Elite Syncopations" (1902)
• "The Entertainer" (1902)
• "The Strenuous Life"
• "The Ragtime Dance" (1902/1906)
• "Weeping Willow" (1903)
• "Palm Leaf Rag" (1903)
• "The Sycamore" (1904)
• "The Favourite" (1904)
• "The Cascades" (1904)
• "The Chrysanthemum" (1904)
• "Leola" (1905)
• "Eugenia" (1906)
• "Nonpareil" (1907)
• "Gladiolus Rag" (1907)
• "Searchlight Rag" (1907)
• "Rose Leaf Rag" (1907)
• "Fig Leaf Rag" (1908)
• "Wall Street Rag" (1908/1909)
• "Sugar Cane" (1908)
• "Country Club" (1909)
• "Euphonic Sounds" (1909)
• "Paragon Rag" (1909)
• "Pine Apple Rag" (1910)
• "Stoptime Rag" (1910)
• "Silver Swan Rag" (1914/1971)
• "Magnetic Rag" (1914)
• "Pretty Pansy - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915?)
• "Recitative Rag - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915?)
• "Reflection Rag" (1971 - Attributed)

Waltzes

• "Harmony Club Waltz" (1896)
• "Augustan Club Waltz" (1901)
• "Bethena" (1905)
• "Binks' Waltz" (1905)
• "Pleasant Moments" (1909)

Marches

• "Great Crush Collision" (1896)
• "Combination March" (1896)
• "Cleopha" (1902)
• "March Majestic" (1902)
• "Rosebud" (1905)
• "Antoinette" (1906)

Operas

• A Guest of Honor (1903)
• Treemonisha (1911)

Habaneras

• "Solace" (1909)

Collaborations

• "Swipesy Cakewalk - With Arthur Marshall" (1900)
• "Sunflower Slow Drag - With Scott Hayden" (1901)
• "Something Doing - With Scott Hayden" (1903)
• "Lily Queen - With Arthur Marshall" (1907)
• "Heliotrope Bouquet - With Louis Chauvin" (1907)
• "Sensation" (1908)
• "Felicity Rag - With Scott Hayden" (1911)
• "Kismet Rag - With Scott Hayden" (1913)

Songs

• "Please Say You Will" (1895)
• "A Picture of Her Face" (1895)
• "I Am Thinking of My Pickaninny Days - lyrics by Henry Jackson" (1902)
• "Little Black Baby - lyrics by Louis Armstrong Bristol" (1903)
• "Maple Leaf Rag - Song Version - words by Sydney Brown" (1904)
• "Sarah Dear - lyrics by Henry Jackson" (1905)
• "Good-bye Old Gal Good-bye - music by Mac Darden; Arr. Joplin" (1906)
• "Snoring Sampson - words and music by Harry la Mertha; Arr. Joplin" (1907)
• "When Your Hair Is Like the Snow - lyrics by Owen Spendthrift" (1907)
• "Pine Apple Rag - Song Version" (1910)
• "Lovin' Babe - words and music by Al. R. Turner; Arr. Joplin" (1911)
• "Morning Glories - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915)
• "For the Sake of All - incomplete, lost, and unpublished" (1915)

Stage Works

• "The Ragtime Dance - Folk ballet for piano, singing narrator, and dancers; first performed 1899" (1902)
• "A Guest of Honor - Opera in Three Acts - lost" (1903)
• "Treemonisha - Opera in Three Acts" (1911)
• "Syncopated Jamboree - vaudeville - lost" (1915)
• "If - musical comedy - lost" (1916)

Other

• "School of Ragtime - 6 Exercises for Piano - Instructional Manual" (1908)
• "Symphony No. 1 - lost" (1916?)
• "Piano Concerto - lost" (1916?)

Related

• Scott Joplin House State Historic Site
• The Sting (1973 film)
• Scott Joplin: Piano Rags (1970)
• Scott Joplin (1977 film)
• Scott Joplin (1982 painting)
• Vera Brodsky Lawrence