Treemonisha---A Seldom Heard Gem

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, February 26-28, at 10am, I will be featuring Scott Joplin's seldom-heard opera Treemonisha in three parts on my radio program, Classics in the Morning, which airs daily on 89.7FM in New England and streams live worldwide at wgbh.org/classical.  I am particularly excited about this presentation and I wanted to share some thoughts about this almost forgotten American masterpiece.

Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha is absolutely unique.  Joplin, whose "Maple Leaf Rag" launched a worldwide madness for ragtime in 1899, wrote the most illuminating and significant events of his life directly into this opera.  And it goes far beyond ragtime. 

Joplin was one of six children. When his father deserted them, his mother worked as a domestic, bringing little Scott along to the houses she would clean and asking her employers to allow him to practice on the parlor piano while she worked.  News of the little black child's amazing gifts filtered through to white Texarkana, Texas.  A teacher volunteered to teach him piano and harmony.  So important was this glimpse into education that Scott Joplin would forever believe that the black person's path to salvation lay in education.  The opera Treemonisha is based on this belief, and it conveys this social message in a manner ahead of its time, using an 18-year-old woman as its heroine, Treemonisha.  Because she has an education, she becomes the leader of her people.   Joplin's mother is commerated in the character of Monisha, who agrees to wash and iron clothes for a white
family, if the lady of the house would give Treemonisha an education.

Joplin became obsessed with Treemonisha at the end of his life, desperately trying to convince publishers to print it.  As his health worsened with syphillis, his dream of staging Treemonisha eluded him, and he died having only seen a run-through with piano accompaniment that bewildered the audience and amounted to a failure.

Boston's own world-renowned conductor, author, educator and producer Gunther Schuller lovingly orchestrated and conducted the Houston Grand Opera production with extreme care taken toward giving it an authentic sound based on the instruments and trends of its own day.   The result is stunning. 

It's been quite a while since I've listened to Treemonisha.  I was somehow reminded of its extraordinary message recently, and now I've plunged back into it with a new sense of admiration.  I hope you'll have a chance to enjoy it!

Cathy