There have been many "bad boys" (and girls) of music throughout the years, from the whimsically mischievous Satie to the iconoclastic Ives and, probably most famously, Antheil. But Schulhoff is probably in a class of his own. Engrossed in jazz music, he eventually became almost obsessive about dance music, particularly popular dance, and it seeps into much of his work. So one ends up with a range, from the lovely Hot Sonata, to the sometimes seemingly absurdist view on the future of music (decades before Cage), to the downright notorious sighs of a solo singer.

This month we visit one of the dance-pieces of Schulhoff, the ragtime from his Suite, op. 37, which he discussed in a letter to Berg, commenting on his growing obsession with dance. The entire Suite is eminently tuneful, and a great deal of fun, mixing stirring movements such as this one, with gorgeous slower fare such as the "Valse Boston" movement.

Like several other greats we have visited in the CCM over the years, Schulhoff (and his music) was not well-received by the Nazis. He died of tuberculosis at the prison camp at Wülzberg in 1942.