More Reflections on Treemonisha

I have written a lot about Treemonisha over the years and since 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the first two fully staged productions of Scott Joplin’s opera, I am still inspired to comment. The first premiere was performed with Dr. T.J. Anderson’s orchestration in Atlanta in January 1972, and the second, with William Bolcom’s score, was presented at Wolf Trap Farm in August of that year. I enjoyed being at both premieres and I was at the third version premiere by the Houston Grand Opera in 1975 orchestrated by Gunther Schuller. That production went on to run 54 performances on Broadway. I have not had the pleasure of being at a Paragon Orchestra performance using director Rick Benjamin’s fine orchestration. However, I have nearly worn out the 2011 CD release. Fifty years has afforded time for debate about the relevance and quality of the work. There has also emerged a basic disagreement over the meaning of Treemonisha just as post-Civil War African American leaders disagreed about how former slaves should be brought to full equality. W.E.B DuBois advocated instant equality and access to higher education as White citizens were afforded. His was an academic approach from a Northerner’s perspective. Booker T. Washington’s believed in a more gradual process to equality through training focused on educational basics and vocational instruction as practiced at his Tuskege
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Larry Melton was a founder of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in 1974 and the Sedalia Ragtime Archive in 1976. He was a Sedalia Chamber of Commerce manager before moving on to Union, Missouri where he is currently helping to conserve the Ragtime collection of the Sedalia Heritage Foundation. Write him at [email protected].

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