Ragtime / Early 20th-century American · 1905
Bethena — A Concert Waltz
S. Joplin
- Key
- G
- Time
- 3/4
- Tempo
- ♩=132
- AO focus
- AO3
Incipit
Form
Ragtime waltz — five 16-bar strains in different keys (G, D, B♭, G, D). Published a year after Joplin's wife Freddie died; many writers read the piece as a memorial.
Teaching points
- Ragtime in 3/4 — rare. Joplin breaks his own 2/4 convention. Discuss why
- Modulation chain — the strains move through G → D → B♭ → G → D, exploring closely related keys
- AO3: programmatic vs absolute — does the waltz read as a memorial without knowing the biography?
Full score ↓Public domain
Score: IMSLP (1905 first edition, public domain).