Ragtime: Cakewalk in Pianoland

預覽：撰寫於展覽開幕之前

The image the Morgan chose to announce this show is a sheet-music cover: Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, printed in St. Louis in 1899, from its own shelves. Most of what surrounds it comes from one pianist's collection, the John Davis Collection of Early Printed Musical African Americana.

Seven sections in the Engelhard Gallery follow ragtime from West African rhythm and European tradition into early jazz, then out to Broadway and film. The spine is a pairing: Ernest Hogan, known as "The Father of Ragtime", wrote catchy songs for Black working-class audiences, and Joplin wrote rags meant as serious composition. The curators present both as answers to the stage stereotypes of the day.

If you would rather hear it than read it, Davis, also a guest curator, plays rags from his collection in Gilder Lehrman Hall on 18 November at 7pm ($60, $50 for members), with the show open beforehand from 5:30. Otherwise it comes with general admission, and the Morgan stays open until 8pm on Fridays.