André Jolivet lived from 1905 until 1974. Versatile in the arts, André Jolivet was a pupil of Le Flem and later of Varèse and was, with Olivier Messiaen, Daniel Lesur and Yves Baudrier, a member of the composers grouped together as Jeune France. As director of music for the Comédie française he wrote a quantity of incidental music and elsewhere based his work on principles that stemmed from his interest in the magical and incantatory element fundamental to human music.

Jolivet wrote a number of concertos, all demanding considerable virtuosity from the soloist. These include a concerto for the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument developed in France in the 1920s, and concertos for trumpet and piano, for flute, for piano, for harp, for bassoon and harp, for percussion, for cello and for violin.

In addition to his varied incidental music, whether for Molière, Claudel, Corneille or Plautus, Jolivet wrote music for the ballet and for marionette plays.

Jolivet made an early impression on Messiaen with the six piano pieces that constitute Mana. Chamber music includes music involving the flute, an instrument he particularly favoured for its primitive human associations.

Scott Joplin (1868-1919) was the most influential and famous composer of the ragtime era, and one of the most daring pioneers in the history of American music. He was known as the Father of Ragtime. At first, the musical establishment absolutely refused to acknowledge ragtime as a worthy means of musical expression, dismissing it as catastrophic noise that had little musical meaning at all. Only within the last few decades has his work finally been truly appreciated and accepted as a truly great form of art, and as a unique and substantial contribution to music.

Ragtime, which first emerged in the 1890's, is a style of piano playing with an up-and-down "ragged time" rhythm. Joplin made ragtime an international dance craze with "Maple Leaf Rag". "The Maple Leaf Rag", became the first song to sell over one million copies of sheet music.

Listen to his Peacherine Rag and Strenuous Life

The remarkable part of his success as a musician was the fact that he was African American. His success paved the way for all black musicians who would come after him, breaking a long-standing race barrier: acceptance as a performer.

Joplin's music enjoyed renewed popularity with the use of "Solace" in the 1973 movie The Sting. Solace was not a typical rag, although it does have similar rhythmic elements.

Treemonisha was an opera composed by Joplin, although it was not produced until 1975, 58 years after his death.

Some other ragtime composers were Joseph Lamb and James Scott. Eventually, ragtime was replaced by jazz.