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: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1174660
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1139113
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 852985
Klassik
for: 2 String Quartets and 2 Double Basses
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1103870
3. Psalm 46 "Gott ist unsre Zuversicht"
for: Mixed choir (SSAATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 742539
for: Cello, Flute, Guitar, Mezzo-Soprano, Percussion, Soprano
Buch
Item no.: 1174405
from the musical fairytale "Pollicino"
for: Orchestra
Einzelstimme Baßxylophon
Item no.: 783714
for: Flute, clarinet, violin, cello (quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 1105933
for: Flute, Violin, Violoncello and Piano
Study score
Item no.: 1542312
for: STI SET
Set of parts
Item no.: 1542559
Klassik
for: PART
Score
Item no.: 1542650
2 Concertinas + Live-Electronics ad lib.
for: 2 Concertinas and Live Electronics
Buch
Item no.: 1542685
Schlaf, süßer Knabe
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1043642
for: Percussion
Sheet music
Item no.: 1640018
for: Mixed Choir and Ensemble
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1542847
Klassik
for: Dirigierpartitur A3
Score
Item no.: 1542429
Score
Item no.: 1542385
for: Male choir, piano
Piano score
Item no.: 1558045
for: Guitar
Score
Item no.: 774860
for: Clarinet and String Trio
Set of parts
Item no.: 1542308
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1138952
for: Women's choir (SA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1177694
Klassik
for: Violine und Violoncello
Book
Item no.: 1194923
for: 5 Harps
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1137072
The Evening concert - No. 2
for: Flute, string orchestra
Einzelstimme tiefe Streicherstimme
Item no.: 731171
Harmonia-Mixed Choir
for: SATB, SSA, TTBB, Vocal [Child]
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 908951
per tre violini, piatto sospeso e crotali (1993)
for: Mixed ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1031178
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 839374
Ein Horrorbild nach 'Haunted House' von Edward Hopper
for: 4 Stimmen und Ensemble, Partitur
Score
Item no.: 1542746
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 1174266
for: Guitar and Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 977159
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Buch
Item no.: 1174334
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1027141
for: Clarinet, Violin and Violoncello
Score
Item no.: 965744
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 840278
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1174492
L'Été
for: Soloist[s] and Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1103960
for: Clarinet Sextet
Buch
Item no.: 1140643
Harmonia-Men's Choir
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 913167
Klassik
for: Chamber Ensemble and Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 858674
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1174717
Harmonia-Men's Choir
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 915174