This shift demonstrates one of Joplin's late-life techniques: establishing a foreign key within the framework of a strain. Much of this melody is in the mode of B-flat major, the main key of the entire piece however, during bars 11 and 12, the mode shifts to G minor. Since it is featured at both the beginning and end of the piece, the melody of the A strain is possibly the most recognizable melody in the piece. Like the classic rag, "Magnetic Rag" begins with a four-bar introduction. This is part of the original published score. He has both parts play in unison, and he departs from the standard 2/4 left-hand rhythm. The first 6 bars of section D, showing Joplin's departure from usual ragtime form. It was at this time that Joplin attempted to write rags that were not confined to the standard "oom-pah" left-hand beat and that incorporated several other novelties. Joplin produced "Magnetic Rag" during what several musicologists consider to be his experimental period. Since Joplin published "Magnetic Rag" himself, it has been suggested that the composition fully reflected his wishes and contained no compromises. His publishing it in 4/4 was simply a way to connect the rag with classical and popular piano works of prior fame. Simultaneously, Joplin doubled all the note values, effectively making the unusual 4/4 time signature have no practical effect on the way the piece sounded or the way it was performed. As well, Joplin employed in "Magnetic Rag" the classic "common time" 4/4 time signature instead of the more usual 2/4 time of rag tunes. "Magnetic Rag" begins with the instruction " Allegretto ma non troppo" (moderately fast, but not too much) and continues in the D strain with " Tempo l'istesso" (tempo remains the same), a warning against slowing down for the minor-mode section. Joplin's usage of Italian tempo indications in "Magnetic Rag" has been interpreted as his intention to give the piece a serious aspect in a similar manner to Treemonisha and "Scott Joplin's New Rag". The form is cyclic: that is, the opening melody is revisited at the end of the piece. It has been suggested that Joplin was trying to merge ragtime elements with the classical sonata form. Due to its novelty at the time, the form has been described as "progressive". While many of Joplin's piano rags fit the classic rag scheme, "Magnetic Rag" is unique in its form of AABBCCDDAA. Possibly as a result of Joplin's mood at this time, the piece expresses a melancholy almost entirely unheard in his earlier works. He was suffering from the latter stages of syphilis, the disease from which he died only three years later. "Magnetic Rag" was written by an ailing Joplin near the end of his career, when interest in ragtime was waning. It is also unique in form and in some of the musical techniques employed in the composition. It is significant for being the last rag which Joplin published in his lifetime, three years before his death in 1917. " Magnetic Rag" is a 1914 ragtime piano composition by American composer Scott Joplin.
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