The Cascades: A Rag

• Scott Joplin wrote The Cascades in 1904 for the Chicago World’s Fair. He attended the fair and reported that this rag was played there frequently.¹
• The piece is named after the Cascades Gardens, a fountain installation that was a central attraction at the Chicago World’s Fair.²
• This piece was “Respectfully dedicated to Kimball and Donovan, banjoists” (see front page, first edition). They were a popular banjo duo who had been in the public eye since around 1897.³

“Hear it, and you can fairly feel the earth wave under your feet. It is as high-class as Chopin and is creating a great sensation among musicians.” 

John Stark, Joplin’s publisher, in an advertisement for The Cascades⁴

1. Edward Berlin, “Scott Joplin: The Man and His Music,” The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, accessed June 9, 2021, https://www.scottjoplin.org/joplin-biography.html. 
2. Edward A. Berlin, King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016) , 175. 
3. Ibid.
4. Quoted in Ibid., 176.