Classical Modernism – Sheet Music & Scores

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

Post-War Change

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.

Beyond Tonality

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.

Return to Folk

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.

Expressionism & Serialism

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.

• Arnold Schönberg – Sheet Music
• Anton Webern – Sheet Music
• Alban Berg – Sheet Music
• Ernst Krenek – Sheet Music
• Paul Hindemith – Sheet Music
• Hanns Eisler – Sheet Music
• Igor Stravinsky – Sheet Music
• Charles Ives – Sheet Music

Neoclassicism

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.

• Sergei Prokofiev – Sheet Music
• Darius Milhaud – Sheet Music
• Francis Poulenc – Sheet Music
• Arthur Honegger – Sheet Music
• Bohuslav Martinů – Sheet Music
• Elliott Carter – Sheet Music
• Aaron Copland – Sheet Music
• Manuel de Falla – Sheet Music

Important Classical Modern Composers

• Arnold Schönberg – Sheet Music
• Anton Webern – Sheet Music
• Alban Berg – Sheet Music
• Igor Stravinsky – Sheet Music
• Paul Hindemith – Sheet Music
• Béla Bartók – Sheet Music
• Sergei Prokofiev – Sheet Music
• Aaron Copland – Sheet Music
• Bohuslav Martinů – Sheet Music