May F. Aufderheide: Complete Rags (Ragtime)

Born May 21st, 1888 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ms. May Aufderheide would become perhaps the most famous women to ever pen rags both during her time period & even to this day! As a part of a more prestigious mere-musical family than most with her father John Aufderheide as a gifted violinist & her Aunt Kolmer a talented pianist, there was no doubt May would soon pick up a taste for music of her own.

During her early teens, May had taken classical piano lessons from her Aunt Kolmer & was even taken on the traditional European "Grand Tour" in order to study and expand upon Art Music (Think more of a "cultivated" & advanced sense of style.) Yet despite this heavy grounding into the studies, May had her attention caught by perhaps a more eye-catching style of play, to irresistible for her to resist: Ragtime. In fact, before ever leaving to study abroad in Europe refined music, May was so determined to join the ever-growing Ragtime craze that she had her first work "Dusty Rag" locally arranged with the help of future composer Paul Pratt, and published by then sign painter, Cecil Crabb. Yet with Crabb only having access to publish in Indianapolis, the rag had only collected dust itself in local stores.

Upon her return from Europe in 1908, May married young architect Thomas Millikan Kaufman & moved to Richmond, Indiana where she would continue to expand on her desire to write rags. By this time, Dusty Rag had began slowly yet steadily picking up sales, indicating to May's father she was capable of pursuing rag composition. Because of this, he formed J.H. Aufderheide & Company to publish her works on a greater scale, buying the copyright to Dusty and reissuing it under his label and soon after releasing "Richmond Rag," marking the beginning of her career.

Hiring Paul Pratt to manage the label, John's company was successful enough to garner column space in the American Musician and Art Journal in the summer of 1909. From there, he was able to place a large ad in the journal with a picture of May, informing the readers to "keep your eye (and ears)" on her, touting May as a composer with a future with two more pieces that were sure to be hits. That same year, those pieces would become known as "The Thriller" & "Buzzer Rag" with Thriller becoming her best known work.

Despite the label releasing quite a few works from other composers of the time including Pratt & two of May's acquaintances, the fortunes had begun to dry up after May's last published rag "Novelty Rag" in 1911. By 1912 due to a lack of any major hits after "Buzzer" from 1909, the motivation & interest to continue forward with the company was dropped by all parties, even by May herself after the only work published by the label by then was a song cover of "Dusty" that only proved to fare poorly. Even if the company had held itself together for another year, May's now rocky marriage would prove to keep her to occupied to write any further, promptly marking the end of her career and discouraging her to continue her passion of writing well-crafted rags.

In 1911, May & her husband had already moved back to Indianapolis because of his inability to retain work in the architecture field, desperately in search for better income prospects. Only proving to slowly decline in stability as a alcoholic, Kaufman had ultimately failed to become architect either in Richmond or Indianapolis, reluctantly finding himself working for John in the banking business as a broker around 1916. Despite now upcoming with abundant financial security, his marriage to May reportedly remained strained.

As for May, the 1920 enumeration shows her as having no occupation, not even as teaching music, a field now left long behind her. In 1922 she's become tangled within attempting to start a family with adoptive daughter Lucy Kaufman, after their original baby boy had died a day after birth. By the 1930 census, it reports May to have stopped playing piano at home all together, attempting to live between her glorified past & her consistently draining family matters, disappearing effectively from the music industry & the public eye.
Biography is continued in the pinned comment below.
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Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Dusty Rag (1908)
0:02:15 - The Richmond Rag (1908)
0:04:41 - The Thriller Rag (1909)
0:07:14 - Buzzer Rag (1909)
0:10:31 - Blue Ribbon Rag (1910)
0:13:45 - A Totally Different Rag (1910)
0:17:36 - Novelty Rag (1911)
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Music composed by May F. Aufderheide & performed by Ethan Uslan, Marcus Schwarz, Bryan Wright & Virginia Eskin.

℗ 2004 Bryan Wright ℗ 2014 Bella Musica Edition ℗ Vanguard Classics

This video is solely for the purposes of compiling and sharing the music of May F. Aufderheide and in no way or means is being used for monetary purposes.