Treemonisha

Treemonisha Treemonisha (1911) main The opera's setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin's childhood town Texarkana in September 1884.

Before “X,” full-fledged black operas were scarce: William Grant Still’s “Troubled Island,” in 1949, and Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha,” in 1975, had comparably high-profile premières.

For instance, American composer Scott Joplin insisted that his serious but ragtime -influenced work Treemonisha (1911) was an opera, but some reference works characterize it as an operetta.

He notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw a connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance, and a similar desire in the composer.

In 1911, unable to find a publisher, Joplin undertook the financial burden of publishing Treemonisha himself in piano-vocal format.

In addition, it has been speculated that Treemonisha represents Freddie, Joplin's second wife, because the date of the opera's setting was likely to have been the month of her birth.

In addition the themes of superstition and mysticism evident in Treemonisha are common in the operatic tradition, and certain aspects of the plot echo devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner (of which Joplin was aware).

In her sleeve notes on the 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of Treemonisha she notes that he ".

The plot centers on an 18-year-old woman Treemonisha who is taught to read by a white woman, and then leads her community against the influence of conjurers who prey on ignorance and superstition.

Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her.