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: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 108895
for: Organ
Item no.: 353383
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 298027
for: Violin, viola
Item no.: 287787
from the opera "The Dead City"
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 724734
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1530259
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 676420
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 910765
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Score
Item no.: 207365
for: Clarinet, piano
Item no.: 120713
for: Piano
Item no.: 120513
for: 2 pianos
Music score
Item no.: 896369
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 379742
Serenade for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon
"At spille i skoven"
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon (wind quintet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 325723
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 314905
for: Violin, piano
Book
Item no.: 179425
Notenhandschrift im Faksimile; Auszug aus der ersten Seite der Choralfantasie für Orgel
for: POSTKARTE ORG
Postcard
Item no.: 241857
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Music score, Playback-CD
Item no.: 658909
for: Bassoon, piano
Ensemble score, solo part
Item no.: 375538
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 888197
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 927454
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 358514
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 909466
for: Voice, guitar
Music score
Item no.: 324245
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 324436
for bassoon and string quintet or string orchestra
for: Bassoon, string quintet [string orchestra]
Score
Item no.: 746744
for: Bassoon, piano
Score
Item no.: 695716
for 13 wind instruments
for: Wind ensemble
Score
Item no.: 694891
for: Violin, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 361859
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 109164
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 2365
for: Flexible ensemble (6 voices), piano [harp]
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 3439
for: Violin, strings; basso continuo ad lib.
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 3407
for: Clarinet, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3197
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 225507
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 300423
for: 2 violins, cello
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 4148
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3865
for: Trumpet (B-flat) [clarinet], piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3692
for: Voice (low), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1649
for: Organ
Item no.: 157499
of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber for Orchestra (1943)
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 740128
for: Harpsichord, strings
Score (spiral binding)
Item no.: 661722
for: Piano Trio
Book
Item no.: 150574
for: Flute, guitar
Book
Item no.: 100965
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 240848