Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
70 years ago today, on November 25, 1955, this brown wax home recording was made on an Edison Gem Phonograph, Cylinder 12831. These recording devices were obsolete by the 50s, so it is a novelty that he made this recording in this way. While it is a rough recording, and not all words are audible, we can hear about how he first met Margot and the years of service on the family farm. We also learn that he was a World War I veteran; he also says something about World War II, but I can't tell what.
It is a touching recount of a loving husband and a thoughtful message to the woman he loves.
70 years ago today, on November 25, 1955, this brown wax home recording was made on an Edison Gem Phonograph, Cylinder 12831. These recording devices were obsolete by the 50s, so it is a novelty that he made this recording in this way. While it is a rough recording, and not all words are audible, we can hear about how he first met Margot and the years of service on the family farm. We also learn that he was a World War I veteran; he also says something about World War II, but I can't tell what.
It is a touching recount of a loving husband and a thoughtful message to the woman he loves.
![I Want to See My Child (1911) by Scott Joplin [1976 SMOOTH JAZZ SOLO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tuNlxaa0cWI/mqdefault.jpg "I Want to See My Child (1911) by Scott Joplin [1976 SMOOTH JAZZ SOLO]
Mike Wofford plays a famed Treemonisha opera segment, in which Treemonishas parents yearn for her return from her captors, in the improv style of smooth jazz.
#ragtime #scottjoplin #smoothjazz
A Real Slow Drag is the most popular song in Joplins opera, Treemonisha. Treemonisha is the greatest American opera, and it tells the story of a woman who is abandoned at birth and grows up to become a leader of her community after she is kidnapped by evildoers. Though it would only be performed once in Joplins lifetime, lacking orchestration and heavily abridged, it experienced a grand revival in 1972, and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
©1976 Flying Dutchman Productions, Ltd.
More Scott Joplin:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbGAQvbfY3Z3FDwU5UdnwCnkd7zkbX4mS&si=dlDrjm5EjRfaaUKt
Full album of this song:
https://youtu.be/BL_43JExzVY?si=vnv4U-eSJCvV5Rxh")
![Phoebe Thompsons Cake Walk (1899) by Sadie Koninsky [1900 Cylinder Recording, Metropolitan Band]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tun-K1_Tx54/mqdefault.jpg "Phoebe Thompsons Cake Walk (1899) by Sadie Koninsky [1900 Cylinder Recording, Metropolitan Band]
An exceedingly scarce cylinder recording of a rag from the cakewalk craze. And whats more, it was written by a woman, Sadie Koninsky. She was one of the most notable female composers of the era, and one of the first to use her birth name rather than a male-sounding pseuydonym. Eli Greens Cake Walk (1898) is her other famous work, but she continued to compose until 1918.
The cover art is outdated and derogatory. It is presented in its original form for historical purposes.
More Sadie Koninsky: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoOsErnA0BuoqIRx6DDgIqg3&si=v6pNR9Xvz6lH9dkv")
![Albert Reiss - Witches’ Ride [Hexenritt] (1911)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uWRzvizoS08/mqdefault.jpg "Albert Reiss - Witches’ Ride [Hexenritt] (1911)
From the 1893 opera, Hänsel und Gretel, by Englebert Humperdinck.
#halloween #opera #1910s
My Official Halloween Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbGAQvbfY3Z16cs9lZ1jh9sM0xZI0_jRV&si=O1odoPf7oNCg5udB")
![St. Louis Rag (1903) by Tom Turpin [1948 Pianola Recording]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uoDAe8HJAPc/mqdefault.jpg "St. Louis Rag (1903) by Tom Turpin [1948 Pianola Recording]
Tom Turpin wrote this classic rag ahead of the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair, one of many ragtime composers to do so. It is played here on pianola, piano roll courtesy of George Moore. Note how the record label erroneously says Turpin is the pianist. Turpin is not known to have recorded any piano rolls, so I rule this out.
I posted the flip side of this record nearly two years ago, as the second video on this channel. It is kind of shocking it took so long to post the flip side: https://youtu.be/NGGALrlZepo?si=P_UolNFY0Fn H5Q
Tom Turpin (1871-1922) was the composer of the first ragtime piece with the word rag in the title. Harlem Rag is his greatest hit. It was written from 1889-1892, but it wasnt published until 1897, making so that Mississippi Rag by William Henry Krell got moniker as the first piece with rag in the title. Other famous pieces include Buffalo Rag and St. Louis Rag.
This record is not yet public domain; all rights reserved to the copyright owner. Obviously, these videos are not posted for financial gain.
More Tom Turpin: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMkuz4vEFoOzFldAWPzj6flrm7lG-c3H&si=NqMzp-z2GiLUoY0B")
![Prelude to Act III (1911) by Scott Joplin [1976 SMOOTH JAZZ SOLO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vvXqBMA8Qq4/mqdefault.jpg "Prelude to Act III (1911) by Scott Joplin [1976 SMOOTH JAZZ SOLO]
Mike Wofford plays a famed Treemonisha opera segment, the first song of the final act, in the improv style of smooth jazz.
#ragtime #scottjoplin #smoothjazz
A Real Slow Drag is the most popular song in Joplins opera, Treemonisha. Treemonisha is the greatest American opera, and it tells the story of a woman who is abandoned at birth and grows up to become a leader of her community after she is kidnapped by evildoers. Though it would only be performed once in Joplins lifetime, lacking orchestration and heavily abridged, it experienced a grand revival in 1972, and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
©1976 Flying Dutchman Productions, Ltd.
More Scott Joplin:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbGAQvbfY3Z3FDwU5UdnwCnkd7zkbX4mS&si=dlDrjm5EjRfaaUKt
Full album of this song:
https://youtu.be/BL_43JExzVY?si=vnv4U-eSJCvV5Rxh")
