Marilyn Nonken • Syncopated Musings

Marilyn Nonken is a classical pianist known for playing some of the most challenging music of the 20th and 21st centuries. That Scott Joplin’s music does not present the technical difficulties that often attract her attention might make us wonder what enticed her to devote an entire CD to seventeen of his solo and collaborative compositions. The CD notes do specifically address that particular issue, but its discussion of the quality, inventiveness, and emotion of Joplin’s craft reveals that these are among the features that appeal to Nonken. Joplin brought excellence to his music, regardless of genre, evident from the acclaim he received. His early vocal quartet groups, for which he did the arrangements, were universally praised, and blues pioneer W.C. Handy noted that of the many Black quartets in St. Louis in 1892-93, Joplin’s was the best. Similarly, his theater piece from 1899–1900 (later published only in part as The Ragtime Dance) moved one white newspaper in Sedalia, Missouri (where memories of slavery were still vivid) to label him a genius, an appraisal amplified by Alfred Ernst, conductor of the Saint Louis Choral Symphony Society. While enjoying recognition for his vernacular compositions, Joplin really aspired to be recognized as a classical composer, clearly indicated by his composition of two operas and the report, several months before his death, that he was w