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), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1684550
for: Mixed choir (SSAATTBB), organ
Score
Item no.: 1697155
for: Soloist (soprano), mixed choir (SATB), strings
Set of parts
Item no.: 1668402
Young Concert Band
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 1669334
for: Bassoon
Music score
Item no.: 1688212
for: Oboe
Music score
Item no.: 1688211
for: 2 violins
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1696568
for recorder solo
(soprano, alto and tenor recorder in alternation)
for: Recorder
Set of parts
Item no.: 1678129
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 1668797
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 1690593
für 7 Frauenstimmen, 4-5 gemischte Stimmen (solistisch oder chorisch) und Fernchor ad lib.
for: Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 1582003
for: Oboe
Music score
Item no.: 1689173
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1676690
for: 2 violins
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1684827
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1687970
for: Soloist (soprano), mixed choir (SATB), strings
Score
Item no.: 1668403
for: Brass ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1678136
for: Voice, alto saxophone (E-flat)
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 1677774
on the chorale "Vor deinenThron tret ich hiermit"
by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 668)
for: 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, harpsichord
Score
Item no.: 1668822
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1687974
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1670803
"Klassische Reminiszenzen"
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1692340
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1696447
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1689320
aus Carmina Burana
for: Flöte, Flötenchor
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1689726
für Violine, Viola, Violoncello und Klavier
for: Violin, viola, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1687987
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1678454
for: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 1667670
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 1689334
for: Voice (soprano), harp
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1677775
for: Voice
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1668817
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 1678398
Versione per fisarmonica di Claudio Jacomucci
for: Accordion
Music score
Item no.: 1672754
(Zongoraszonáta)
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1672518
for: 2 oboes
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1689170
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1692154
Elf Lieder auf Texte von Friedrich Schlegel
for: Voice (low), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1666895
for voice (with percussion and/or humming choir ad lib.)
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 1668820
for: 2 violas
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1684672
for: Flexible ensemble (5 voices)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1687977
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1688185
for: 2 violins, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1687971
for: Chamber ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1672863
pour flûte, hautbois, clarinette, clarinette basse, basson, cor, trompette, trombone, violon, alto, violoncelle, contrebasse
for: Chamber ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1681176
per pianoforte
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1684529
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1687969
Fifteen pieces
on poems by Christian Morgenstern
for: Voice (mezzo-soprano), Double bass, percussion
Score
Item no.: 1668852
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1690121