Mural of Scott Joplin, Sedalia, Missouri
Scott Joplin would feel at home in downtown Sedalia of 2019. Some of the buildings now have Vitrolite façades or other street-level modifications but if you look up, you’ll see many have a pre-1900 date chiseled into their limestone cornices. In the interests of setting the stage for a display of a number of David Wilson paintings, consider the physical setting both he and Scott Joplin experienced. This mercantile landscape evidences a commercial culture that seems an unlikely environment for either’s art. The following brief description of the ambience of current Sedalia and its ragtime score is an effort to set the stage what might seem a completely intrusive cultural phenomenon.
Ragtime was at its zenith before World War I. Its syncopated rhythms made it a precursor to jazz. Scott Joplin was the preeminent composer of this spirited piano music and some of his most productive years were spent in the then-booming railroad town of Sedalia, Missouri. Since Sedalia has been static and its business district usurped by highway development
During this year’s festival, my wife Crystal and I walked the streets of old downtown Sedalia one evening. Many buildings date from the era when the composer lived here. Lamppost banners and window posters advertised the festival. Shops that once purveyed necessities now sell antiques and crafts. It’s a sympathetic setting for the performance of old-time music that, like the downtown, has apparently diminishing attendance. The experience was a tad melancholy but not unpleasant. There is visual richness in the weathered surfaces of buildings slouching toward ruins but still useful if their roofs are good. Perhaps a third were for rent. The twilight when I took the photographs seemed appropriate given the twilight of the moribund business district and waning appreciation of Joplin’s poignant piano music. It’s encouraging that Joplin’s haunting melodies are treasured by some and the culturally unpretentious town strives to keep his memory alive.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
