- The Ragtime Dream of Johnny Broom (1995) ragtime ensemble 16'
- Clarinet-alto saxophone, trumpet-flügelhorn, trombone, piano, contrabass, percussion
- Commissioned by The Commission Project.
- Premiere—1995, in Rochester, NY.
Program Notes
In Robert Haven Schauffler's The Unknown Brahms, there is an account of a conversation from Johannes Brahms's last years in which the composer expressed an interest in American ragtime project. Ragtime was fairly new then; Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag was written in 1897, the year Brahms died, and published two years later. Ragtime was by no means respectable, but since Brahms spent his early years playing the piano in Hamburg's red-light district, and throughout his life produced works in more popular idioms, such as the Zigeunerlieder and the Hungarian Dances, the idea is not so far-fetched. Jonny Broom's Ragbag realizes Brahms's whim, though not, of course, as he would have composed it. His music is represented by several quotations from one of the last pieces and one phrase cribbed from the Requiem. The essence of ragtime—a syncopated part in one hand against a march-like rhythm in the other—is retained. I have replaced the multiplicity of eight-bar themes characteristic of the turn-of-the-century rag with more classic binary, ternary and rondo forms. There is also more development than Scott Joplin would have cared for. Jonny Broom honors Ned Corman, educator, jazz musician, and composer advocate, a long-time friend and mentor. His playful and open-minded spirit suffuses the work.
