Solace, Scott Joplin, from “The Sting“ (Orchestra version)

Composed and published in 1909 by Scott Joplin, I first heard it as a little girl when my father took me to see the film, “The Sting.“ With its beautiful melancholy and gently rocking rhythm, it seems to personify in musical form the loneliness and alienation sometimes felt against the backdrop of the hustle and bustle of city life. But there is beauty in solitude, and with his broad brushstrokes and planes of light, no one captured it on canvas better than Edward Hopper. In his world, details are of no necessity, for they are of no importance. It’s been said that Hopper would sometimes ride the train at night, catching glimpses through open windows of the private lives of city dwellers, and that they were the inspiration behind his evoke a quiet stillness and austerity and are, to me, the perfect accompaniment to this adaption of Joplin’s composition. (three additional paintings courtesy of Sally Storch and one photograph courtesy of Richard Tuschman)