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: Horn
Music score
Item no.: 433781
for: Big band
Item no.: 329843
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1202477
for: Mixed choir, piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1208997
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1202086
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1202550
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1202737
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 1139854
Für flexibles Ensemble Partitur und Stimmen
for: Flexible ensemble (5 voices)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 660561
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1201530
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1201179
for: Symphonic orchestra
Book
Item no.: 1118093
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1592993
for: Alto saxophone (E-flat)
Music score, Playback-CD
Item no.: 646604
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1201345
for: Male choir
Vocal score
Item no.: 1024579
for: Baritone Voice, Choir and Organ
Piano reduction
Item no.: 998241
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1203306
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1530292
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1201107
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1202619
Geistliche Musik
for: Blechbläserquartett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1204915
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1202044
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1171836
for: Violin, piano
Single edition
Item no.: 1084695
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1137215
for: Handbells [3-5]
Single edition
Item no.: 1117045
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1215316
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1540518
from Lady Macbeth
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1132551
Farewell My Love, Farewell
for: Voice, piano [guitar]
Single edition
Item no.: 1082532
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1584468
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1172412
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 834156
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 984213
for: Salon Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1171161
for: Concert band
Conductors part
Item no.: 1582446
for: TASTEN- UND BALGINSTRUMENTE ORGEL ORGEL ZWEIHÄNDIG
Item no.: 119619
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 323718
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1110033
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1171914
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Buch
Item no.: 1139878