GET MIDI "Bethena" LISTEN


Performer:John Roache
Composer:Scott Joplin
Arranged by:John Roache

Scott Joplin's hauntingly beautiful "concert waltz". This is his first published work after the untimely death in 1904 of Freddie, his young bride of two months. Although he dedicated an eariler rag (The Chrysanthemum) to Freddie, no mention of her is made in the score of Bethena. Who was Bethena? Is she the beautiful woman pictured on the cover? Could Bethena be an endearing nickname for Freddie? We will never know. But her passing surely had an influence on Joplin's mood at the time as the music is sadly poignant.

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The MIDI performances available at this site are all performance copyright 1995-1999 by John E. Roache and may NOT be used for any commercial use whatsoever without permission. The MIDI sequences may be freely distributed for non-commercial use only in their compressed .ZIP form with all attached text files.

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