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.
for: Piano
Item no.: 118470
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 601765
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 124020
for flute and piano
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 621162
Edition Peters Green Series
for: Voice
Music score
Item no.: 381053
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108824
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 367354
en forme de messe basse
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 107217
per viola solo
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 626236
für Cello solo
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 682904
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 431698
for: Violin (solo), viola (solo), string orchestra
Piano reduction, solo parts
Item no.: 290017
For solo flute with optional electronics
for: Flute and Electronics
Buch
Item no.: 465821
für Violine und Violoncello
for: Violin, cello
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 124404
For Flute and Piano, Op. 23op. 23
for: Flute, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 228791
for: Clarinet, string orchestra, triangle
Score, solo part
Item no.: 494042
Nr. 1-12
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 108805
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1563106
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 113494
Flute (Technik) (Technique)
for: Flute
Item no.: 215358
for: Piano
Item no.: 577598
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 108816
for: Mezzosopran und Tonband oder für 3 Stimmen
Partitur
Item no.: 375823
Strategies and structures in new music from 1900-present
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 1011915
Five songs
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 292406
Baroque and Classical Era
for: Organ
Book and music score
Item no.: 237869
Part 3. Modern and Contemporary Music
for: Organ
Music lesson book
Item no.: 1215729
for: Clarinet, viola, piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 188237
for: 2 violins
Ensemble score, solo parts
Item no.: 499293
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 voices (SB), string orchestra, latin percussion
Study score
Item no.: 108834
cantate pour double choeur mixte a cappella
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 245932
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 431711
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 violins, viola, cello, piano (piano quintet)
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 108909
for: Organ
Item no.: 357426
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 558374
per violino e pianoforte
for: Violin, piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 256623
175 Stücke aus acht Jahrhunderten
for: Treble recorder
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 630646
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 381651
ABRSM Cello Exam Pieces 2016-2019
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 197989
for soprano recorder
for: Descant recorder
Music score
Item no.: 683727
Unpublished Works Collection
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 614782
Guitar Series
for: Classical guitar
Music score
Item no.: 466264
Original pour clarinette
for: Alto saxophone (E-flat)
Music score
Item no.: 773482
pour percussion solo
for: Percussion
Music score
Item no.: 172554
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 182151
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 762847
Oper in 4 Akten (9 Bildern) – Urfassung 1932
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 175781
Nach Georges Bizet
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 108917