- Date: 1911
- Composer: Irving Berlin
- Period: Modern (1910-1949)
Review
Irving Berlin (born Israel Baline in Mogilëv, Siberia, 1888; died in New York, 1989) came to the United States at the age of five. From 13, when his father died, he supported himself in various jobs and other ways, such as dancing on street corners for coins. He learned how to play the piano by ear. He never could read or write music. After he composed a song he sang and played it to an assistant to wrote it in musical notation. Throughout his career, from the heyday of rag music to the advent of rock & roll, he was ahead of the coming trend, able to adapt his style to any new wave in music. There is no better example than the case of his first hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band."In 1907, he had written the words to a successful Tin Pan Alley tune called "Marie From Sunny Italy," with music by M. Nicholson. At the time, he was a singing waiter in Chinatown. He continued to write with moderate success and became associated with the newly formed Friars' Club, a New York show business social organization.
1911 was Berlin's breakout year. In that season, he wrote music for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1911. George M. Cohan, the head (or Abbot) of the Friars' Club, organized an all-star review to be put on by the membership. Berlin and Will Rogers, together with Victor Herbert (who provided and led the orchestra) put the show together. Berlin wrote "Alexander's Ragtime Band" for the show.
It was an immediate sensation. It is not actually a rag piece, but borrows something of the syncopation and the tendency towards chromatic harmony that were factors in actual ragtime. The wind-up horn record player was a recent addition to the home entertainment scene and ragtime (which had been around in live performance for a few years) was growing in popularity. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" celebrated the liveliness, spirit, and irresistible nature of ragtime and not only made Berlin a star songwriter but helped spur the success of the genre.
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" was first recorded in 1912 and has been recorded by numerous artists, such as Bessie Smith, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and many others. It is documented that the song was one of several played as the Titanic sank.
Berlin followed the song up in 1914, by writing Watch Your Step, a Broadway hit that was billed as the first ragtime musical. Its success was a major factor in transforming the American musical stage from an operetta-like style to a vernacular, syncopated, and entirely American style. In 1938, Berlin included the song, of course, in a musical called Alexander's Ragtime Band. ~ All Music Guide
