Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha,” which re-emerged in a semistaged performance at Town Hall on Thursday night, speaks to so many issues that a few bear sorting out.
On its most obvious level, Joplin’s 1911 folk opera preserves an image of black culture and its aspirations at the turn of the century. It is a historical standard against which the progress and regressions of the past 80 years can be measured.
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