FREE INQUIRY In Creative Sociology Volume 9, No 1 May 1981 53 A SOCIAL HERMENEUTIC OF JOPLIN'S "TREEMONISHA" Anthony J Blasi, Mystic, Connecticut HERMENEUTIC STRATEGEMS appear in positivist reports." From Hermeneutics approaches social the notion of interpreting an phenomena in terms of their mean­ extra-sociological text by means ingfulness. In modern scholarship of a sociological context which is it began with concern about unqer­ extrinsic to that text, we proceed standing scripture, laws, and non­ to a more particular approach. . western civilizations. It extends What we call a framework Is a· to the study' of modern behavioral subset, a derivation from the gen­ sciences, with debates between eral problematic (Zetterberg 1965). hermeneutic scholars and those who would model the human sci­ SYMBOLISM & FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS ences after physics (Blasi et al A: symbolic unity such as an 1978; Giddens 1974; RadnitzJ(y opera does not occur in a social 1968; Truzzi 1974). vacuum. I t is an index to the • Hermeneutics offers three a I tern­ sociat-:o world which contributed to ative strategems. 1) One may seek its creation in the productive life to grasp textual meanings accur­ of its creator. I t is a form of ately, although mediated through social knowledge. But symbolism, the investigator's biography. In­ unlike concrete knowledge, only stead of enteri ng, the psycholo­ partia:lly expresses its antecedent gical state of the social actor, societ~. As a form of knowledge, one grasps the actor's consensual­ it hf limited. I t reveals while ly interpretable symbols and their veili"g, and. veils while reveal­ meaning. 2) ,One may interpret ing.1 t both promotes and inhibits meanings in extrinsic contexts, pract1tcal participatipn, in the sym­ systems, and concerns, once the boli zed content (Gurvi tch 1972 textual meaning is grasped. 3) 40). bpera is an extremely symbol­ One may use the textual meanings ic form of expression because it as precedents wh ich bear on con­ is r~oved by a number of taC';it templated actions. Such are the pheno'menological apoches from nat­ materials of legal and ethical stu­ uralist discourse (Blasi" 1977). dies (Gadamer 1975). The text to An, adequate concrete analysis be studied need not be ideational. tries~: t'o interpret a phenomenon Poetry, crowd emotions, ·v i suaI art by discovering the total societal and music are also appropriate. context, and seeks to determine • Hermeneutics is social when the why ·the soc·ial actor accepts as sociologist's object of inquiry right; a sensation which is inher­ enters the problematic (Outhwaite ent1'Y." partial (Lukacs 1971 50). A 1976). Max Weber's social action, symbolic creation which resonates understood as an ideal type:-corn­ with an actor's life experiences prises both the text to be investi­ maybe a false consciousness be~ gated and the extrinsic context causEt.' it doesMot directly inform with which the analysis is made. the "actor of the essence of the Weber was concerned with the elec­ sociat circumstance. But it is an tive affinities between diff~rent imp~vement over a situation ,in orders of texts, such as 'religious which" there is no consciousness and economic texts. However, a at a11. One could hope for a new non-sociological text may be inter­ cu I tu*'a I order where the subaI tern preted with an ex~trinsic sociolo­ classes see and understand the gical context. Such an approach h'rstor~ical blocs which' mask their applies in the sociology of. know­ true ;interests. Progress to sucn a I.edge, Ii terature, and music. mass insight must begin with the subaltern classes discovering FRAMEWORK By framework is in­ their' own personalities through tended a hermeneutic equivalerH such symbolic <:reations (Portelli to the hypotheses which regularly 1972 142). ft.REE INQUIRY In Creative ,Sociology Volume 9, No ,. M~y19S~ 54 SYMBOL ISM: INFRASTRUCTURE of ,t-he, creative artist is a key Mannheim made it explicit that datum which" varJes in obviousness. the interpretation of knowledge proceeds' from a different vantage THE POTENTIAL OF 'SYMBOLISM p.oint from .that of ,;the, knowledge • Gramsci' noted- that the, southern being' in,terpreted: "If I ta.ke •• a Italian intellectual white' coll·ar theoretfcal "statement as an idea worker provided a cultural link­ that· . is· "from' within"', I am, ;mak­ age" whi:ch tied the lo,wer classes ing'the s'ame .assumptions· that are to· the ari.st()cracy. The serious prescribed ·in -it; ,if I take it as cu I ture, to the extent that 'the an ideology "from without," I peasantry participated, ,made the am' '··suspending; its assump- peasant a 'subordinate ,actor in an­ tions." Mannheim 1971 119). other class's cu I tura I 'expression ,A·n' intelliegent i ri'terpreta'ti.on which forestalled any; independent which .. goes~'beyond\l the simple rela­ cultural expression' by the peas­ tion .." between-certain, symbols, 'and ant class. The' peasant hoped: to social ,classes must take the mean­ be included among the ,few, rather ing: of the knowlledge into account than to give 'body ·to 'experiences but the': truth ;o~falsity of the of the' ·many. This constituted the knowledge as determ'inable on its monstrous asrarian ~ which en­ own terms must·, be· suspended. abled . the southern Itali'an middle After the - ap iate epoche, the class to act as an agent of both focus must shift,to tlle knowledge northern capitaI and sou thern pointing to rea'lities beyond .its landownership (Gramsci 1957 45.). direct referent, beyond, itself. In­ I f the southern 'peasant were pro­ terpreting :doctrines; of socia·1 Dar­ vided with means to evolve an winism. thus re.quires going be­ independent symbolic expression, yond the ,issue of whether the sur­ the agrarian bloc would be;: under­ v'ivors , are· to their perpetu­ mi~ned. This: could lead to a class ation -of.a..knowledge system that discovering its own personality enab.lesthem f" ,to be·1 ieve· they are and 'itsown potential for action. fi t • • -A social hermeneutic.: interpreta­ SCOTT JOPL IN tion of '21" work of art goes beyond Joplin: was -born 'in the small the· standards of grammar of the town of Texarkana in 1868 to a art ·,itse·jf, to the social realities working class 'family. His father, which it reveals'. an·d veils.. 'Gold~ a ra:i Iroad laborer, was an ex­ mann approached exceptional slave from North Caroli.na, and works of . art as :embodiments of his mother '·wa-s· a· black American world views, and then sought from Kentucky.- The entire family their. soc;tia'i infrastructure (Gold­ earned extra 'money as musicians. mann -1964', 1969). "He· believed SCQtt became: fascinated with the that, the ,infrastructu,res have been piano, and 'showed talent with it. soc,ia·:I' '1Zlasses . si'nce antiquity, .but He' - so impressed a loca I German didt:~not._ propose. -that' this would immigrant 'music teacher that he atways be ;the,' .case. gave Scott- free lessons in piano • " I t:, remains' to .be determined how and harmony. He also 'roused, Jo~;.. the social. researcher- is' to- decide Iin' s interest by playing. ·~;the what" .works of "art express symb6J"'I" works of great composers. Jop lin i-ca'ily or indirectly.•: Gol'dmann ·pro­ never forgot his benefactor, and posed ,~that works of art obtain as sent gifts of money when the tea­ virtual collective consci'ousness in cher became aged a.nd ill (Gamond that what they express is not pe­ 1975 ·29). culiar: to the author, but is • At 14, Joplin left home to be a shared by others in the social wandering honky-tonk pianist. His group" (Goldmann 1969 129,). ,One mother had died, and his father must see the artistic creator for wanted him to do regular work wha;-t ,s/he is .socio'iogically to instead of being a 'black entertain";' develop an adequate interpretation ere He traveled through the Miss":' of the work. The social location issippi basin living on a meager FREE INQUIRY In Creative Sociology Volume 9, No 1 May 1981 55 income in marginal establishments Joplin rented a hall in Harlem and finally gained a reputation and led a cast of vocalists in St. Louis and Sedalia, Mis­ through a concert audition, play­ souri. There, he studed harmony ing the piano himself. Without an and composition at the Smith orchestra, it was thin and uncon.... School of Music, of the Smith. Col­ vincing. He was crushed, and the lege for black people. fai lure of the work may have has­ • Joplin began to compose syncopa­ tened his death. His opera fai led ted music with jagged melodies, because of prejudice of white as a serious undertakin.g~ but people and lack of nerve of black could not get backing of music people. His project was unthink­ publishers'. He did publish unre­ able in his time. The limited markable pseudo-white music. gains of black Americans were be­ Eventually, publisher Stark dis­ ing lost. Black achievements had covered him playing the now-fam­ not yet developed the plausibility ous Maple Leaf Rag in the Sedalia they deserved. A black 'person Maple--r:ea.;--club. I t created a with too much talent and ambition sensation, and Stark published would tikely come to grief. many other rag pieces. But he resisted publ'f'S'hing Joplin's rag­ TREEMONISHA: OPERA AS ALLEGORY time ballet, and refused even to The setting of Treemonisha is consider Joplin's ragtime opera, A ruraI Arkansas, September 1884, Guest of Honor, which has since near Joplin's childhood home, at iieerlloSt. --- the time of his mother's death. Joplin went to Chicago and The story is simple. Local·· black later to New York, where he col­ people decline to buy charms from laborated with less-known black a conjwror after the titerate 18­ composers. At the same time, he year-old girl, Treemonisha discour­ retained his ambition as a com­ ages them. As a group . begins. to poser of serious music, and he husk corn after a square dance, disliked the term ragtime. But he Treemonisha begins to. colI·eet never gained acceptance among leaves from an old tree for a the black musicians of New York. wreath'~ Monisha, her assumed They associated him 'with the low mother, tells her not to disturb class rag music, and avoided the tree, for she first found ·Tree­ SU"CFl provincial musical styles monisha there under that tree as (Gamond 1975 83). an infant 18 years before. She After 1909 Joplin lived comfort­ and her husband ra i sed Treemon­ ably in New York. His second wife isha as ~heir own, "and got a ran the bui Iding they owned as a white lady to teach her to read theatrical boarding house, and he and write. Treemonisha ·and a used it to compose many new rag­ friend leave, while a parson time pieces. But he devo.ted in­ preaches. The.. friend returns, :to· creasing time and money to his report that the conjurors had k'ld~ new opera, Treemonisha. He aban­ napped Treemonisha. The conjur­ doned other concerns, but fai led ors plot to push their· captive to interest anyone else in the into a wasp's nest, but Remus, opera, succeeding only in getting who had been educated by Tree­ a laudatory review on t~he vocal monisha, and despised supersti~ score. Most reaction was simply tion, $hows up dressed as a scare incredulous: "Since syncopated crow. The conjurors flee, thinking music, better known as ragtime, he is the Devi I. On the way home has been in vogue, many Negro the couple pass a group worklng writers have gained considerable in . a field, and the group sings fame as composers of that style of work songs. At home, Treemonisha music. From the white man's dissuades the pePple from 'punish­ standpoint after writing rag- ing the conjurors, who had· .been· time, the Negro does not figure." captured by Treemonlsha's (New York Age' March 5 1908) friends. The conjurors promise to Near the end of his resources, abandon their Voodoo superstition, FREE INQUIRY In Creat'ive Sociology Volume 9, No 1 May 1981 56 while the people choose Treemon­ in the libretto under the form of isha as their leader. kidnapping. Like the captive hero­ Monisha's own story, The ine, Joplin was held captive in Sacred Tree is a Ii Iting ballad. the music of his years as a wan­ The work crew, which they, meet dering honky-tonk performer. His orlthe way home, sings a barber­ p'sychological adjustment to the shop quartet'. There is some rag­ dashing of his artistic hopes took time, most notably, the concluding the form of forgiveness, which is ?ance,,_ ~ Real Slow Drag, which the reverse side of Joplin's self-' IS, powerful and stately'. There destruction. One cannot miss the are also choral/orchestral en­ genuineness of the appeals for sembles and a rolling basso aria. punishment in the opera's last Treemonisha and,' Remus use stan­ act, but the appeals in the end dard English while the other char­ give way to forgiveness. This men­ acters use black dialect. The mus­ taIi ty seems to presage the oft­ ical styles and lan'guage "patterns heard appeals of black leaders bring :the rural black ways and after the assassination of Martin the black" mastery of the white Luther King, Jr. that King himself ways onto the same stage. And would not have wanted any' retali­ the ethnically black music and atory violence. the em wn America music are as dignified as the ethnically CONCLUSION The black musIcians white' music of the metropolis. Mus-'" of 'New York who rejected JopIin' s ically, this work 'is not ragtime, serious treatment of black and but Qpera. inner-American music were person­ • "Black hopes are dra'matized. Ed­ ally ambitious, but they did not ucation will dispel the ignorance sense the plausibility of the revo­ w'h'ich holds the black Ameri'cans lutionary ambition implicit in down:r Black forgiving black, and Treemonisha. A revolution which leaving the way open for the accorded high status to an expres­ blac~' s improvement is the thema­ sion of black and ru'ral culture tic' max of the plot. There is' was stil:I' beyond the cognitive an eloquent si lence with respect grasp of turn-of..;the-Century black to: the \rote of the white. Americans. To desire abetter life .'Moying to the indirect refleetior.. was only the first step out of a of· the larger society, one cannot easte men'tafity. DuBois had al­ miss 'joptin"s nostalgia for the soc­ ready made the class analyses ial periphery. As a rural-to­ which provided the black leaders u'rbal1 migrant,' Joplin brought with the basis of a collective stra­ f'orth picturesque scenes from his tegy, and from 1910' his influence childhood. The small town flavor was evident. But the abstraction of much of the music strengthens of legal equality and the individ­ this reminiscence, as it does 'in ualism of 'educational and econom­ otheri operas like Cavaler.-ia Rusti­ ic improvement did not give full cana',' and L'Elisir d'Amore. There status to the collective black iden­ is'a ,reflection of the caste mental­ tity. Such could only be done ity pf the blatk community. The through symbolic realms in which b lack conjurors oppose the advan.... the medium is the major .part ,of cement~, represented by Treemoni­ the message. The identifiably sha'f~ . educat'ion. This operates black medium must itself achieve through~ the taci t 'assufYlptions status before its message can be shared by composer and audience. taken at face value. Treemonisha • Th~' allegony represents,' a 'third was ahead of its time symbolical­ level of communication. The world ly rather than intellectually. was "not yet ready for the talent­ • *In neo-Marxist thought, social ed tenth which made up the black classes are thought to discover population. And it was not ready their personality in the symbolic for Joplin. The black and white realm, and then to articulate communities' resistance to his their interests in· a more prosaic entry into serious music' is shown manner (Madura 1976 176). But FREE INQUIRY In 'Creative Sociology Volume 9, No 1 May 1981 57 the fai lure of Treemonisha after' Adornian intro to Villa-Lobos' the black thinkers' analyses had music. Paper, Southwestern Socio­ become adequate, suggests a dif­ logical Assn ferent sequence. What was needed DuBois WEB 1967 (1899) The now, was a less intellectual mes­ Philadelphia Negro: A Social sage for the unphilosophic and Study. New York Schocken the non-politically motivated. The .Gadamer Hans-Georg 1975 Truth black intellectuals had not been and Method. New York Seabury looking to the fine arts as a .Gammond Peter 1975 Scott Joplin medi um for thei r ideas. Perhaps & the Ragtime Era. London Angus Joplin was 40 years ahead of his Robertson time. By the 1950's black and .Giddens Anthony 1974 Positivism rural music had been ;assimilated & Sociology. London Heinemann to such an extent that i,t was no .Goldmann Lucien 1964 The Hidden longer ethnically black nor geo­ God. Study of Tragic Vision in graphically rural. The multi-level Pensees of Pascal and Tragedies message of cul.tural equality as­ of Racine. tr P Thody,. London sumeda theological/hortatory form Routledge Kegan Paul in which wh.ite legitimacy could 1969 Human Sciences & be subjected to a critique on Philosophy tr White & Anchor equaI terms. London Cape There is irony in this. The .Gramsci Antonio 1957 Modern stubborn critique which consigns Prince & Other Writings. New York the symbolic universe of discou.... se International of opera and religion to insignifi­ .Gurvitch Georges 1972 Social cance with such loaded terms as Frameworks of Knowledge. tr M & false-consciousness, and mystifica­ K Thompson New York Harper tion itself depends on such symbol- .Jones Robert 1975 Treemonisha. -rc--reaIms for its soci a I efficacy. Scott Joplin's ragtime opera struts The c"itique itself becomes a it stuff on Broadwc,.y. Opera News material force (',only after it has 40 3 12-1 5 .~: gripped the masses throught sym­ .Lukacs Georg 1971 History & bolism{Marx1967 257). Class Consciousness,. tr R Living­ • Finally, the example of Joplin's stone Cambridge Mit Press mlJlti-leve'l communication suggests .Madura Otto 1976 ~arxismo y Reli­ the role of the artist in class gion. Caracas Monte Avila dynamics., Every class holds a .Mannheim Karl 1971 From Karl common world view,including that Mannheim. ed K Wolf NY Oxford U which it finds tempting, but Press which it is ,not ready to accept. .Marx Karl 1967 Toward the cri­ Onl~ a few members of the social tique of Hegel's philosophy of collectivity express in their own law. Writings of Young Marx on consciousness the full world Philosophy & Society. tr L .Easton, vision. The artist is the person K Guddat Garden City Doubleday who articulates the multi-level as­ .Outhwaite William 1976 Understan­ pects of the collective world view ding' Social Life. The Method Call­ through the multiple levels inher­ ed Verstehen. NY H61mes .Meier ent in artisitcexpression. .Portelli, Hugues 1972 Gramsei et Ie bloc historique. Paris Presses REFERENCES Universitaires de France .Blasi Anthony J 1977 Phenomeno­ .Radnitzky Gerard ~968 Contempor­ logy and the sociology of grand ary Schools of Met~science. Chica- opera. Paper, Midwest Sociological go Reguery " Soc. • Truzzi Marcello 1974 Verstehen: .Blasi Anthony, Fabio Dasilva, Subjective Underst~nding in the Andrew Weigert 1978 Tow<;lrd and Social Sciences. Reading Addison Interpretive Sociology. Washington Wesley University Press of America .Zetterberg Hans 1965 On Theory .Dasilva ,Fabio B 1978 Misleading & Verification in Sociology. 3rd discourse & message of silence: ed Totowa Benminster