Russian Rag (composition)

"Russian Rag"
Cover art
Cover of sheet music, published by Will Rossiter, Chicago
Instrumental by Pietro Deiro
Released1918 (1918)
GenreRagtime
Composer(s)George L. Cobb
Victor 18743 Side B record label: Russian Rag, played by Pietro Deiro
Russian Rag
Accordion performance, played by Pietro Deiro
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Russian Rag" is a 1918 ragtime jazz piano composition by George L. Cobb.[1][2] The composition was published by Francis, Day & Hunter Ltd.[1]

The composition is based on the opening chord progression of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op.3, No.2. The piece was such a hit that Cobb wrote The New Russian Rag in 1923 in an attempt to arrange more of the Rachmaninoff prelude for ragtime piano.[3][4]

Elena Kats-Chernin wrote another later piano composition entitled Russian Rag in 1996.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b "Russian Rag by George L. Cobb (1918, Ragtime piano)". YouTube. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Russian Rag". National Jukebox. Library of Congress. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. ^ Jasen, David A.; Trebor Jay Tichenor (1978). Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 174. ISBN 0-486-25922-6.
  4. ^ "The New Russian Rag". York Space. Canada: York University. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Russian Rag by Elena Kats-Chernin (original 2011 version)". YouTube. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Russian Rag (1996)". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 9 July 2020.