When most people hear the name Scott Joplin, they most often think of The King of Ragtime who composed famous songs like The Entertainer right here in St. Louis. But did you know that Joplin also wrote two operas — one of which will be featured in our 2023 Festival Season? The reimagined version of Treemonisha, the classic American opera, will include a new prologue and epilogue that will shed light on Joplin’s late wife and muse, Freddie Alexander. 

To fully appreciate this opera, we must take a deeper look into Joplin’s life. Though we don’t have many concrete details about his early life, we know that he was likely born in the second half of 1867 in Texas. He taught himself piano at a young age in a white-owned home where his mother worked. As he grew, Joplin developed his skills and composed music while working various gigs as a pianist. In 1901, he moved to St. Louis and began composing and teaching in addition to performing. 

 While in St. Louis, Joplin composed some of his greatest works including (but not limited to) The Entertainer, The Ragtime Dance, and his first opera A Guest of Honor. 

Joplin started a small opera company in St. Louis and planned a midwestern tour for his production, but unfortunately, just as the tour started, a member of the company stole all the box office receipts and left the company broke. When Joplin was unable to meet the financial obligations of the company, his music was confiscated along with the rest of his belongings and the score was never recovered. 

After the tour ended, Joplin found himself in Arkansas where he met the love of his life, Freddie Alexander. Freddie, like Joplin, was a well-educated civil rights activist for women and African Americans. Inspired by Freddie, Joplin wrote his next opera Treemonisha — a story of a woman that leads her community to a future of opportunity and prosperity through education. Similarly, Joplin believed that education would eventually bring racial equality. Sadly, Freddie never got to hear the opera for only ten weeks after their marriage, Freddie developed pneumonia and passed away at just twenty years of age. 

Treemonisha was only performed once during Joplin’s lifetime, but as a concert read-through where he played the piano and paid for the entire concert himself. This operatic work went almost entirely unnoticed until its 1972 world premiere with the Atlanta Symphony and the Morehouse Glee Club. Joplin finally got the recognition he deserved and posthumously received the Pulitzer Prize for his contributions to American music. Treemonisha is a perfect example of what an American opera should strive toward – it timelessly portrays American history while looking toward a brighter future. 

Learn more about our reimagined production of Treemonisha during our 2023 Festival Season!