The classical modern period, 1900-1945, saw a great deal of cultural change, and many different composers helped shape the musical landscape of the early 20th century. Browse our sheet music and scores, take a look at our Classical Modern Sheet Music Downloads, and explore the wide world of classical modernism with Stretta Music today
The horrors of World War I brought about such a shift in perspective, that art would never be the same again. The cultural and social changes that had already begun at the end of the 19th century led to new prospects, which were mirrored and expressed through various innovative artistic movements, them sum of which is called Classic Modernism.
During the 20th century, the boundaries of tonality were stretched so far that one could no longer speak of tonal music. The most striking examples of this are polytonality, employed by composers like Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, and Charles Ives, and to an even greater extent serialism, the twelve-tone music of Arnold Schönberg and his students.
The rise of nationalism in the late 19th century sparked a great interest in rediscovering folk music. New technical developments, such as the invention of the phonograph, also made it easier to document and collect folk music. Great folk Pioneers were the Romanian composer Béla Bartók, the Czech composer Leo Janáček, the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, and the Australian-American composer Percy Grainger.
This development led to a new idiom within classical music, both melodically and rhythmically. Good examples of the integration of folklore into classical modern music are the melodies from Janáček’s Jenufa, which are based on the rhythm and intonation of the Czech language, and Bartók’s Second Violin Rhapsody.
Expressionists aimed to capture true emotions without glossing over them. Above all, they looked at the subjective inner world, in contrast to the outer world, and left all traditional ideals of beauty behind.
Expressionist music is characterised by dissonance, extreme dynamics and great contrasts in colour, pitch and effect. In music, expressionism is generally associated with the Second Viennese School, founded by Arnold Schönberg and his students Anton Webern and Alban Berg, and the dodecaphonic, twelve-tone technique they used, known as serialism.
Examples of expressionist music include Schönberg’s Erwartung, 1909, and Berg’s Wozzeck, 1922.
Another classical modern departure from the ideals of the Romantic Period was to draw on forms and tropes of the Baroque Period and the Classical Period. This was expressed in the use of traditional musical forms, as in Martinů’s Concerto da Camara, 1937, the use of traditional instrumentation, as in Manuel de Falla’s Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Cello, 1926, and also in the use of thematic material from the 18th and 19th centuries, such as in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, 1920.
for: Male choir
OTHER
Item no.: 1341404
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1171839
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1111607
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1110970
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1110330
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110865
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110410
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110324
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110820
for: MIxed Choir [SATB]
Choir score
Item no.: 1101066
for: MIxed Choir [SAB]
Choir score
Item no.: 1100829
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1100812
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 854242
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 822015
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 982660
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 1353265
for: SSATBB
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1151522
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 853816
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 853076
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 852934
for: Men's Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 851284
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Score
Item no.: 851205
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 851799
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1109953
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 903849
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1172989
for: Choral
Buch
Item no.: 1172974
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1172463
for: Choral
Choir score
Item no.: 1172413
for: Women's choir (SA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 834990
for: Women's choir (SSAA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1175421
for: Mixed choir (ATB), organ
Choir part Bass
Item no.: 275036
Lyric book
Item no.: 263379
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 258611
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 258328
for: Voice (alto)
Choir part Alto
Item no.: 307632
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Score
Item no.: 293511
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 308898
for: Choir
Choir part Soprano
Item no.: 308309
for: Choir
Choir part Soprano
Item no.: 308278
for: Mixed choir (SSAATBB), orchestra
Choir part Bass 1,2
Item no.: 1120993
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 308208
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 310039
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 308776
for: Voice, piano
Single edition
Item no.: 307262
for: Voice, piano
Single edition
Item no.: 306717
for: Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 892358
for: Flute ensemble
Study score
Item no.: 310465