In 1902, Joplin turned a piece into Stark called “The Ragtime Dance” which seems to have been the start of Joplin’s quest to produce a more genteel rag. It was stately and lovely and John Stark refused to publish it. The problem was that he was convinced it wouldn’t sell. The public wanted light rags and Joplin was dropping this high-brow stuff on them that they didn’t want.
The Ragtime Dance - SCOTT JOPLIN (1906) Ragtime Piano Legend - YouTube
Joplin tried to cajole Stark into changing his mind but Stark was adamant. They weren’t in business to lose money. Stark’s daughter, Nellie, was an accomplished classical pianist who had studied with the masters in Europe. Joplin also taught her ragtime. He was like a second father to her and she loved him as such. She pressured her father to publish the piece and Stark finally gave in. As he predicted, however, the piece flopped. But we owe Nellie a debt of gratitude for without her efforts, the piece would certainly be lost to us today (an unknown number of Joplin pieces have been lost with only one being recovered). “The Ragtime Dance” is both a work of genius and a historically important piece for it represents turning point in ragtime, a point that was too far ahead of its time. But great works often are. That’s what makes them great.
A lot of historians believe Joplin married twice but Edward Berlin proved Joplin married three times. Berlin found the marriage certificate. His second wife was named Freddie Alexander. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas around 1884 and that is about all we know of her. She was quite a bit younger than Joplin, marrying him at the age of 19 while he was 36 or so. He dedicated his 1903 piece “Chrysanthemum” to her on the front cover of the sheet music. They tied the knot a year later. Unfortunately, only about two months into the marriage, Freddie fell gravely ill with either a flu or pneumonia (versions vary) and died September 10, 1904. Berlin found a newspaper article about Freddie and Joplin. She was mentioned by name and also as “Mrs. Scott Joplin.”
The cemetery where Freddie is buried.
No one knows where Joplin went during this period of what must have been intense mourning. From all indications, Joplin was very much in love with his young bride. He simply vanished for a while. We have no accounts of anyone who saw him during that time and he appears to have written no letters to anyone expressing his grief or expressing anything at all. He suddenly reappeared in 1905 with a new piece published not by Stark but by the F. Bahnsen Piano Mfg. Co.—“Bethena – A Concert Waltz”:
Scott Joplin Bethena, A Concert Waltz - YouTube
No one knows if Joplin wrote it for his dead wife but it’s hard to believe otherwise considering the circumstances. Whether he wrote it for Freddie or not, it is a stirring and lovely piece and not a rag at all. A romantic notion has arisen that Joplin called his wife Bethena because Freddie, obviously, wasn’t a terribly romantic name especially for a woman. The speculation goes further that the photograph of the woman on the cover of the sheet music is, in fact, Freddie Alexander. This could explain the mystery of why no one really knew what she looked like—she was white. Then again, she could be mixed race, we can’t really say. In all likelihood, the photo is stock and used by the publisher to help sell the sheet music and isn’t Freddie at all. But many people today believe that it is. If so, she was a very lovely woman.
In 1907, Joplin received word that his old friend and colleague, Louis Chauvin, was dying of syphilis in Chicago. Chauvin, who was both Black and Mexican, was superb pianist. He was also an expert singer and dancer. He could not, however, read music and so never wrote anything down. Today, only three of his songs survive—all of them collaborations with people who could write music, which is the only reason we still have these pieces.
Louis Chauvin
Joplin caught a train to Chicago and located Chauvin in a sporting house. There was a piece of music that Chauvin used to play that Joplin loved. He did not want it to die with its creator. So they sat down together and worked on the piece. Chauvin played his bits for Joplin, who wrote them down. Joplin added his own themes to complement Chauvin’s. Afterward, Joplin arranged the piece into a rag which he sent untitled to Stark who promptly titled it “Heliotrope Bouquet.” Published in 1907, it remains one of the most ethereal and hauntingly beautiful rags to come out of the era.
The intro is Chauvin’s as is the first theme which repeats. Then Joplin added Chauvin’s intro again to segue into the next two repeating themes which are Joplin’s. It is an exceedingly beautiful piece of music:
Joshua Rifkin. Scott Joplin & Louis Chauvin's Heliotrope Bouquet. - YouTube
The following year, 1908, Louis Chauvin died at the age of 25.