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: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 198782
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 292774
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Music score
Item no.: 201409
for: Cello
Music lesson book
Item no.: 199415
for: Cello
Music lesson book
Item no.: 681841
Klassik
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1176401
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 901656
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 388544
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 388721
Exercises in the First Position
Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics
for: Violin
Music lesson book
Item no.: 316326
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 199389
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 324035
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 478365
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 803258
for: Bassoon, piano
Book
Item no.: 267139
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 768875
Book
Item no.: 679828
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 411990
for: 2 voices, piano
Score
Item no.: 564919
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Music score
Item no.: 187526
for: Violin
Music lesson book
Item no.: 168621
for: Mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Piano reduction
Item no.: 366719
for: Voice (high), piano
Piano/Vocal
Item no.: 1029386
for: Voice (medium), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 354504
Weberns Interpretationsvorstellungen erläutert an Hand des Faksimiles seines Arbeitsexemplars (Facsimile)
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 113421
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 199416
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 199714
for: 3 soloists (STBar), mixed choir (SSAATTBB); organ ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 321977
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 672401
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 178376
18 selected pieces
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 635295
Edited from the sources
Wiener Urtext Edition
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 659960
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 910520
for: String Quartet and Recorder
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1109728
for: Classical guitar
Music score
Item no.: 838341
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 260768
for: 4 guitars (quartet)
Score, solo part
Item no.: 771356
for: Voice (baritone), 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 644505
for: Trumpet In C or B-Flat and Piano
Book
Item no.: 240615
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 316551
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 128645
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), narrator, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 120391
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 633516
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 211960
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 840886
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Book
Item no.: 240319
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 971558
from Cavalleria rusticana
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 740146