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.
Geistliche Musik
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 198623
for: Double bass, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 685510
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 458352
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 336276
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 691605
for: 2 pianos
Music score
Item no.: 316411
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 280173
Study score
Item no.: 328462
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 272643
for: Flute, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 158408
after Plato's "Symposium"
for Solo Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion
Reduction for Violin and Piano by the composer
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 303000
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Book
Item no.: 886415
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, Solo part (pdf download)
Item no.: 3126
op. 95
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 357247
for: Harp
Music score
Item no.: 615043
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1017395
Score
Item no.: 262651
for: Voice (high), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3264
for: Piano
Item no.: 106412
for: Chamber orchestra
Score
Item no.: 674788
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 658196
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 818204
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 645994
for: Tuba In C or Tenor Horn B-Flat and Piano
Book
Item no.: 267106
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 412763
for: SA a Cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 819191
for: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 616503
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 581217
for: Trumpet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100883
for: Organ or Harmonium
Score
Item no.: 283819
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Conductor score
Item no.: 287263
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 348380
for: Piano
Item no.: 275268
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 179573
for: Clarinet, piano
Score
Item no.: 239030
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 338844
for: String Ensemble, Timbales, Organ
Score
Item no.: 176619
for: Women's choir (SSA) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 170193
for: Organ [piano]
Music score
Item no.: 101322
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 145929
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 281579
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 2939
for: Voice (high), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3245
Inspired by Leo Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata"
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 136014
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 296675
for: Accordion
Item no.: 213446
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction (2 piano's)
Item no.: 903341