After the Second World War, there emerged a new generation of composers, who sought to stretch the boundaries of music history, and find new and exciting styles and forms. Browse our sheet music and scores, take a look at our Modern Classical Music, and explore the wide world of contemporary music with Stretta Music today!
Dodecaphony or Serialism is the use of the twelve semi-tones as the harmonic and structural basis, rather than the traditional harmonic key structure which governed classical music until the turn of the twentieth century. Arnold Schoenberg was the father of twelve-tone composition in the 1930s. Moving into the post-war era, all dodecaphonic or serial musical parameters, including note lengths, dynamics and even timbres were set in rows. After 1948, the Darmstadt “holiday courses” became the centre of Dodecaphony or Serialism for almost a decade. Despite the mathematical and logical basis, twelve-tone composition still produced many highly emotional works such as Luigi Nono’s Il Canto sospeso.
As the technical and electronic possibilities continued to grow and thrive after the war, the first studio solely dedicated to electronic music was founded in Cologne in 1951 by Herbert Eimert. Important electronic music composers were Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ernst Krenek, Maurice Kagel, Luciano Berio and Iannis Xenakis, who was also an assistant to the architect Le Corbusier.
Aleatoric comes from the Latin “alea”, meaning dice. Aleatoric composition leaves elements of the music to chance. The American composer John Cage was the first to experiment with aleatoric music, and many others followed, in particular K. Stockhausen, P. Boulez, W. Lutosławski.
Soundscape composition plays with sense and emotion, it uses long drawn musical landscapes to give the listener time to recognise and experience the music in a whole new way. The most important compositions include Atmosphères and Lontano by György Ligeti. Other works of this type were created by Luigi Nono, Krzysztof Penderecki, Iannis Xenakis.
Minimalism also came to Europe from the USA. Minimalism uses repetitive, wide blocks of sound, without strong contrasts or dramatic changes. It is in the repetition, with gradual, small changes, that the minimalist effect is achieved. The pioneers of minimalism in the 1960s were American composers Philip Glass, John Adams, Le Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich. They were followed in Europe by Henryk Górecki and Arvo Pärt.
The Original Edition
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 770308
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 197517
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 431698
Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell with narrator ad lib.
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 606
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 198730
61 Songs
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 463744
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100980
Klassik
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100862
Walton Choral
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano, string quartet
Score, Parts
Item no.: 682191
for: Countertenor oder Alt und Orgel
Item no.: 364791
Strategies and structures in new music from 1900-present
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 1011915
for: Piano, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and French Horn
Score, Parts
Item no.: 325716
Petite cantate de chambre pour 6 voix mixtes ou chœur a cappella
for: Mixed choir (SSATBB) [6 voices] a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 335309
Entstanden zwischen 1965 und 1970 für verschiedene Schauspiel- und Zeichentrickfilme
in estnischen Kinderzimmern ein Klassiker
for: Children's choir, piano
Music score, Playback-CD
Item no.: 649498
Oper in drei Akten und zwölf Bildern
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 388721
Music for Strings
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 341098
for: Voice, piano
Item no.: 304272
from 'The Gadfly'
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 166226
Saxophone Mib Seul
for: Alto saxophone (E-flat)
Single edition
Item no.: 101092
Instructions and Exercises for Players of New Recorder Music
for: Recorder
Music lesson book (spiral binding)
Item no.: 413839
Klassik
for: Bassoon, piano
Score
Item no.: 184952
für gemischten Chor (SATB) a cappella
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 490764
for soprano and piano
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Music score
Item no.: 492845
Messe
for: Choir
CD
Item no.: 1149289
or viola and electronic
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 473856
Words by Jean de Brunhoff.
for: Narrator, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 279903
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 279880
Eight medieval lyrics
for: Mixed choir (SSATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 120510
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 457007
6 pièces pour petite (ou grande) harpe
for: Harp
Music score
Item no.: 155161
61 Songs
for: Voice (medium/low), piano
Music score
Item no.: 463745
Klassik
for: Saxophone Sextet
Score
Item no.: 635178
for: Tuba
Music lesson book
Item no.: 763731
New Album for the Young
for: Piano
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 1008877
The Walsh Collection
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 620179
Jelek, játékok és üzenetek
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 431769
for: Frauenstimme
Item no.: 113094
Oper in 3 Akten
Libretto vom Komponisten nach "The Devils of Loudun" von Aldous Huxley
in der Dramatisierung von John Whiting
unter Benutzung der deutschen Übertragung des Dramas von Erich Fried
for: Voices, narrator, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 352432
for: 2 pianos
Music score
Item no.: 675064
TV, Film, Musical und Show
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 216168
Klassik
for: 2 bassoons
Ensemble score
Item no.: 266853
for two voices (SS) and piano
for: 2 voices, piano
Score
Item no.: 564919
Hymnen und Choräle
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 641120
Klassik
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 239003
for female voice and piano
after poems from Kazimiera Illakowicz
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 275544
Serie: Choral
for: Women's choir (SSAA), string orchestra, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 633320
The Masterworks Library
for: Voice, chamber orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 486288
Oper in 3 Akten op. 64
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 734
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 348938
CD-ROM (dt/en)
CD-ROM
Item no.: 614213
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Music score
Item no.: 102983