American Beauty Rag String Quartet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1829349

Joseph Lamb (1887-1960), Scott Joplin and James Scott are generally regarded as the three best and most important composers in the “classic” ragtime tradition. Lamb’s reputation is primarily based on the twelve piano rags published between 1908 and 1919 by John Stark, on the recommendation of Scott Joplin, who met Lamb and heard his work in 1907. Of those three, and of the other ragtime composers of the era, Lamb was the only one who was white.

Lamb was never a full time professional musician, and after 1919 did not publish anything for many years. He held a variety of clerical and managerial jobs and never seems to have identified as a musician, though he continued to compose and play in his spare time. The revival of ragtime starting in the 1950s, stimulated in part by the rediscovery of Lamb as a living link to the early days of ragtime, led him to edit and release some of his unpublished rags and other pieces from the 1910s, and to compose some new ones. He also recorded a number of his piano compositions.

American Beauty dates from 1913 and is one of the rags published by John Stark that built Lamb’s reputation. The first two themes are flowing and have wide melodic span, two octaves for the first and just short of that for the second. After a repeat of the first theme, the key moves to the subdominant and remains there, never returning to the home key. This harmonic structure matches the pattern established by Scott Joplin in his rags. The themes that follow are more angular and stay within a narrower melodic range.

CYPRESS PUBLISHING is pleased to be the imprint for arrangements for string ensemble by Stephen Levintow. He is a free lance professional violist and violinist specializing in chamber music, who began making string quartet and trio arrangements for wedding, party and corporate events, to expand the repertory or to improve on existing versions. Selections include unusual pieces by both familiar and lesser-known composers, plus standard classical and popular favorites.

The goal is to produce high-quality, musically satisfying arrangements faithful to the composer’s original material, yet sight-readable in most cases by working professionals or intermediate to advanced students. The full range of normal string technique is employed, while avoiding unnecessary technical complexity. Melodic material is distributed throughout the four voices where appropriate, to maintain listener and performer interest. All parts and scores are set in Sibelius© software format, with careful attention to legibility and page turns.