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: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 837147
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 1177438
for: Alto, Piano Accompaniment, Cello
Score
Item no.: 836128
Set of parts
Item no.: 836034
for: Flute, Cello, Piano Chamber
Score, Parts
Item no.: 836029
for: Flute, Guitar, Soprano
Buch
Item no.: 835979
for: Electronics
CD
Item no.: 835920
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 835902
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1207077
for: Violin, piano
Score
Item no.: 854336
for: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 851415
for: Piano, strings
Score
Item no.: 255405
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 870124
for: Clarinet, Violin and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 965168
for: Clarinet, Violin and Violoncello
Set of parts
Item no.: 966166
for: Male choir
Score
Item no.: 992927
for: Voice
Book
Item no.: 992775
for: Bassoon, viola, cello
Score, Parts
Item no.: 639072
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 853704
for: Musikerziehung
Book
Item no.: 852615
for: Voice (bass/baritone), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1103652
for: Soloist[s] and Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 964128
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 1006623
for: Piano Trio
Score, Parts
Item no.: 965056
for: Fanfare
Score, Parts
Item no.: 868979
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 993103
for: Junior Choir
Piano reduction
Item no.: 818142
for: Timpani and Percussions
Study score
Item no.: 819837
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 819716
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 819391
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 818837
for: Ondes Martenot
Score
Item no.: 818374
for: Flute, Cello and Harp
Set of parts
Item no.: 578868
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 820477
for: Percussion Sextet
Score
Item no.: 818385
for: Clavecimbal
Book
Item no.: 239516
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 315732
for: Piano Quintet [Piano, Cello, Viola and 2 Violins]
Score, Parts
Item no.: 296252
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 928607
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 928485
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 299680
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 927778
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 925857
for: 4 recorders (quartet)
Score
Item no.: 187063
for: Mixed choir, piano
Score
Item no.: 185611
for: GCH/STRQU/HZBL
Score
Item no.: 355083