Ragtime / Early 20th-century American · 1902
The Entertainer
S. Joplin
- Key
- C
- Time
- 2/4
- Tempo
- ♩=80
- AO focus
- AO3
Incipit
Form
Ragtime march — AABBACCDD. Subtitled 'A ragtime two step'. Briefly forgotten after Joplin's death, then revived by Marvin Hamlisch's arrangement for the 1973 film 'The Sting' — the most-played ragtime piece of the 20th century.
Teaching points
- Standard ragtime form — four 16-bar strains. Same as Maple Leaf Rag but lighter in feel
- Syncopation in the RH — the catchy opening 8-bar phrase has the RH consistently displaced from the LH downbeat
- AO3: 'The Sting' (1973) put this back into popular culture — discuss film's role in canon-formation
Full score ↓Public domain
Score: IMSLP (1902 first edition, public domain).