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: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1840
for: Voice (medium), piano
Item no.: 360883
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3138
for: Piano 4 hands
Sheet music
Item no.: 3041
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 177132
New Urtext Edition with comparison of sources and reproduction of fragments from the autograph manuscript
for: Classical guitar
Music score
Item no.: 1681650
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 586484
for: Organ
Sheet music
Item no.: 5812
for: 3 cellos
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 1319
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 4706
for: Harp, strings
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 352814
for: Organ
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 466836
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 352253
for: Mandolin orchestra
Score
Item no.: 490791
for: 2 pianos
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 648220
for: 2 alto saxophones, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1270885
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Book
Item no.: 268023
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 378924
Hawkes Pocket Scores
for: Symphonic orchestra
Book
Item no.: 198743
for four Cellos
for: 4 cellos
Score, Parts
Item no.: 164031
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 332095
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 1619748
for: Flötenquartett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 238447
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 156766
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 391665
for: 2 accordions (duet)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 141830
for: 2 pianos
Ensemble score
Item no.: 336617
for: Voice (medium), symphony orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 490029
Eulenburg Miniature Scores
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 261198
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 228059
for: Clarinet, String Quartet and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 182678
for: Piano, orchestra
Book
Item no.: 197743
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 124428
for: Women's choir (SSA) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 622836
for: für Trompete
Item no.: 113599
Lyric book
Item no.: 124450
for: Clarinet, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1270873
for: Piano
Piano Solo
Item no.: 1048434
for: Viola, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1250071
for: Flute, harp
Score
Item no.: 238348
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108875
for: String orchestra
Score
Item no.: 200215
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 550877
Piano reduction
Item no.: 152455
for: 2 pianos
Item no.: 351770
for: Sopran, Horn in Es und Klavier
Score, Parts
Item no.: 192426
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 354276
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 351256