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: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1054436
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 475489
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 283701
for: Voice (medium), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 4071
for: Voice, orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 143758
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 198011
for: Organ
Item no.: 314361
for: Guitar
Score
Item no.: 365514
for: Clarinet, cello, piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 745563
for: 3 bassoons
Score, Parts
Item no.: 614900
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 154233
for: Bläserchor mit Orgel und Pauken
Partitur mit eingelegter Orgelstimme
Item no.: 760459
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 754044
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 444654
for: Voice (medium), piano
[englisch]
Item no.: 120680
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 460666
from the opera "The Dead City"
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 747179
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 100752
for: Clarinet, violin, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 279856
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 144917
for: Flute, piano
Item no.: 300760
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 617092
for: Flute, piano
Item no.: 300926
Series: Richard Strauss Works – Critical Edition (RSW) 5
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Hardcover)
Item no.: 773524
for: 2 violins, viola, 2 cellos (quintet)
Score
Item no.: 228501
for: Voice (low), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1771
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 213567
for: Piano, orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1665540
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 465880
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 315684
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 107217
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 411283
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 171593
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1552139
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 108938
for: Organ [harmonium]
Music score
Item no.: 659938
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 107557
for: Voice (medium), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3277
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 265984
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 138598
for: Flute, piano
Item no.: 208330
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 163194
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 403727
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 134084
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 108874
In memory of Dmitri Shostakovich
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 659839
for: Piano and Violin
Book
Item no.: 136092
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 296517