Emalyne, Ma Pretty Valentine by Max Hoffman (1902) 🎶🖤

Adolph Eugene Victor Maximilian Hoffmann (1873-1963) is one of the most important pioneers of ragtime and American popular music that you've never heard of. Max Hoffmann personally set many of the standards of music notation and arranging that launched the ragtime explosion, and he was also involved in the creation of the most popular songs of the day: Born in Poland, Max and his family moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota when he was 6 years old. Little is known about his parents, other than his mother was a fruit seller, and they both had passed by the 1890s. Max must have received formal music training somehow, but it's unclear from where. By 1889 he was listed in Saint Paul directories as a musician, when he was just 15. By 1894 this was updated to music teacher. 6'2, blue-eyed and handsome, Max moved to Manhattan in 1894 and made an immediate impression. He was soon highly sought after for his arrangements of piano for songs as well as entire orchestral scores, earning him a position with publisher M. Witmark and Sons as an arranger and editor. Through his new position, he was perfectly placed at the inception of a new style of music that would soon sweep the nation: ragtime. Max Hoffmann ended up being one of the very first musicians to notate what would become the standard for this new style of music. There's a lack of consensus about what the first true published ragtime song actually was. For many years I thought it was "All Coons Look Alike to Me" by Ernest Hogan, a black songwriter, from 1896. However, last year I discovered that this isn't true. The first published rag that was truly a "rag" was "You've Been a Good Old Wagon, But You've Done Broke Down" by Ben Harney, from early 1895. I'm the first to record the full original version with lyrics: Because a narrative was created decades later that ragtime was exclusively black in origin, people like Harney and Hoffman were written out of the record. Ben Harney was known as the Father of Ragtime, predating more well known works by Scott Joplin and others by at least 4 or 5 years. Hoffman might as well be number 2. Since Harney's "Wagon" song was first, that puts "All Coons Look Alike to Me" as a strong contender as second (La Pas Ma La also by Hogan is sometimes suggested but it's not true ragtime). In fact, Max Hoffmann was actual the *arranger* of Hogan's 1896 hit, All Coons Look Alike to Me! His name appears in the sheet music as specifically the one who made the "rag" arrangement. IOW, Hogan may have written the song, but it was Hoffmann who "ragged" it and notated it accordingly, which set the standard for how the style would be written as sheet music, which is far more important than you might think. It's one thing to have an idea for a song, but it's another thing entirely to translate it to notated music to share it with the world, and Hoffmann was the best of the best. This arguably makes Hoffmann almost, if not equally, as influential in setting the rules for what "ragtime" is and how it was notated. IMO, it also casts somewhat into question Ernest Hogan's position as the "first" ragtime composer in the eyes of the mainstream. While Ben Harney was indisputably first in 1895, the fact that Hogan's 1896 ragtime hit was in fact notated into "ragtime" by Hoffmann shows that the Polish-born American was actually the one who set the stage with Harney. This makes him, by my estimation, one of the most important and influential American musicians of all time. Hoffmann's "Rag Medley" from 1897 was also vastly ahead of its time. It included Hogan's "All Coons", Harney's "Wagon" song, and another early ragtime hit by Harney called "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose" from 1896. I'm the first to record Harney's "Mister Johnson" in its original form as well: Hoffmann notably also arranged "My Coal Black Lady" from 1896, as well as "Ma Baby Girl" from 1899, the follow up to the timeless "Hello Ma Baby" by Howard and Emerson, immortalized by the Warner Bros frog cartoon from the 1950s. Another example of Hoffmann's arrangements is the popular song "When a Coon Sits in the Presidential Chair" by George R. Wilson. Wilson was a popular black performer, but he relied on Hoffman's arranging expertise to translate his song into a catchy ragtime tune, just like Ernest Hogan. This isn't to take away from the ingenuity and talent of black musicians like Hogan and Wilson, but it's undeniable that Hoffman was there to help translate their ideas into a popular song format that could be shared and enjoyed by everyone in the era when sheet music was king. Hoffmann's influence didn't stop there, he helped Paul Dresser compose his famous "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" which became the best selling song of the 1890s! Although attributed to famous songwriter Paul Dresser, Max Hoffmann was with him every step of the way. From his own account: "I went to his room at the Auditorium Hotel [Chicago, Illinois], where instead of a piano there was a small folding camp organ, which Paul always carried with him. It was summer; all the windows were open and Paul was mulling over a melody that was practically in finished form. But he did not have the words. So he had me play the full chorus over and over again for at least two or three hours, while he was writing down words, changing a line here and a phrase there until at last the lyric suited him. He had a sort of dummy refrain which he was studying; but by the time he finished what he was writing down to my playing it was an altogether different lyric. When Paul came to the line, "Through the sycamores the candle lights were gleaming," I was tremendously impressed. It struck me at once as one of the most poetic inspirations I had ever heard. I have always felt that Paul got the idea from glancing out of the window now and again as he wrote, and seeing the lights glimmering out on Lake Michigan. We spent many hours together that evening, and when Paul finished he asked me to make a piano part for publication at the earliest moment. I happened to have some music paper with me, and I wrote one right out, on the spot. This I mailed to Pat Howley, one of Dresser's Partners, sending it to the New York Office at Thirty-second Street and Broadway. At Paul's request I also enclosed my bill. This piano part contained the lyric as Paul (and no one else) wrote it that night in my presence. The song was published precisely as I arranged it. They did not send proofs for me to read; the proofs were read in New York, to save time. During the whole evening we spent together, Paul made no mention of anyone's having helped him with the song." This is a humble admission by Hoffmann that he was clearly instrumental in the composition of this famous work. "On the Banks of the Wabash" ended up becoming perhaps the most profitable song of the 19th century, earning over $100,000 from sheet music sales along, a real fortune in the 1890s. Without Hoffman's expert arrangement, it's doubtful the song would have had the same appeal and success, just like Hogan's hit "All Coons" from the previous year. Hoffmann was truly the unsung giant of the early ragtime era. Other than Ben Harney the Father of Ragtime himself, it's hard to think of any other musician who has been unfairly neglected in the story of the history of popular American music. Ragtime evolved into swing and jazz and rock and pop, and the rest is history. But who started ragtime? We are told it was black musicians almost exclusively. But in my research I've discovered another story entirely. The early ragtime pioneers were white musicians like Harney and Hoffmann. In addition, the first ragtime musicians and composers were white AND black. There was significant and wide-spread collaboration between races. Ragtime and these early American music styles were the great unifier. They were colorblind. At the time, it didn't matter what your race was...could you play? Could you sing? That's all that mattered. Sadly, this entire era was rewritten several decades later with the sole goal to divide racially. The white pioneers of ragtime were aggressively denied their dues, and anyone who suggested otherwise was deemed racist. This isn't an exaggeration, and this pernicious lie persists to this day. Still Ben Harney is denied his role as the Father of Ragtime. The ragtime Wikipedia page is literally lying about the year he published the first rag because if they admit a white man started ragtime it would completely upend the narrative that these American music styles were exclusively black in origin, when they demonstrably were not. My efforts in reviving these classic songs aren't just edgy because of the "spicy" lyrics--the real subversive nature of performing this music is that they show these styles were AMERICAN...they were NOT race specific. They are lying through their teeth by claiming ragtime and jazz was exclusively black in origin. If anything, the opposite is true, and the actually history of these songs and composers speak for themselves. Funnily enough, I'm not coming from a "racist" viewpoint by claiming this, but rather a historical one. Ragtime--and therefore jazz--is an American legacy. It evolved from collaboration between all races, and it just so happens that the pioneers at the very beginning were white Americans. Blacks quickly joined the fray and many were original innovators themselves like Ernest Hogan, but to portray this important era of American music as solely a "black" phenomenon isn't just ignorant, it's also actually racist. Hopefully my efforts here will rehabilitate the legacies of great Americans composers like Ben Harney and Max Hoffmann. This era of American music spawned just about every popular music style today, and it's about time we give the true OGs their due justice. Thank you for reading and listening, -Kylan

This incredible song was never recorded before! You are hearing it for the first time in 124 years! Support my efforts in reviving these forgotten classics. This is a full time job that I'm essentially doing for free. Download the sheet music/audio/video:

I thought this would be some sucky love song but by the second lyric I knew I was safe

lol hush coon don’t step on a watermelon 💀 Fucking love it

Doesn't waste much time getting to the punch does it.

Inspiring love song for our age.😌🎶🥰

😍🎶🎵🎶🎵 Emalyne my pretty valentine 💝❤️♥️ pure love in this song, so lovely 😍👌🏽 well done!! You did it, reddit!! lol 😆🤣

channeling dude!!

perfect roll of the googoo eyes

Magical

I love your project. I really hope you go mainstream.

Fun and wholesome. Change in tempo for the chorus is like having two completely different songs in one. Love the tie and hand gestures. They just don't compose songs like this any more! Bravo.

Nice work! That one really gets rockin towards the end 🤍

I haven’t seen your posts for weeks.

My wife says shes hopes your married and have a good life. We love ya over here in Canada...well the 2 non retards in Canada... it's lonely up here