After the Second World War, there emerged a new generation of composers, who sought to stretch the boundaries of music history, and find new and exciting styles and forms. Browse our sheet music and scores, take a look at our Modern Classical Music, and explore the wide world of contemporary music with Stretta Music today!
Dodecaphony or Serialism is the use of the twelve semi-tones as the harmonic and structural basis, rather than the traditional harmonic key structure which governed classical music until the turn of the twentieth century. Arnold Schoenberg was the father of twelve-tone composition in the 1930s. Moving into the post-war era, all dodecaphonic or serial musical parameters, including note lengths, dynamics and even timbres were set in rows. After 1948, the Darmstadt “holiday courses” became the centre of Dodecaphony or Serialism for almost a decade. Despite the mathematical and logical basis, twelve-tone composition still produced many highly emotional works such as Luigi Nono’s Il Canto sospeso.
As the technical and electronic possibilities continued to grow and thrive after the war, the first studio solely dedicated to electronic music was founded in Cologne in 1951 by Herbert Eimert. Important electronic music composers were Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ernst Krenek, Maurice Kagel, Luciano Berio and Iannis Xenakis, who was also an assistant to the architect Le Corbusier.
Aleatoric comes from the Latin “alea”, meaning dice. Aleatoric composition leaves elements of the music to chance. The American composer John Cage was the first to experiment with aleatoric music, and many others followed, in particular K. Stockhausen, P. Boulez, W. Lutosławski.
Soundscape composition plays with sense and emotion, it uses long drawn musical landscapes to give the listener time to recognise and experience the music in a whole new way. The most important compositions include Atmosphères and Lontano by György Ligeti. Other works of this type were created by Luigi Nono, Krzysztof Penderecki, Iannis Xenakis.
Minimalism also came to Europe from the USA. Minimalism uses repetitive, wide blocks of sound, without strong contrasts or dramatic changes. It is in the repetition, with gradual, small changes, that the minimalist effect is achieved. The pioneers of minimalism in the 1960s were American composers Philip Glass, John Adams, Le Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich. They were followed in Europe by Henryk Górecki and Arvo Pärt.
for: Clarinet
Ensemble score
Item no.: 472060
for: Mixed choir (6 voices) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 116840
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 351518
for: Harpsichord
Music score
Item no.: 352398
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 352253
for Violin, Horn and Piano
for: Violin, horn, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 353799
for: Horn (F), piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 353737
for percussion (6 players; 1959-1963)
for: Percussion ensemble (6 players)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 352647
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 310925
for: Piano
Item no.: 354620
for: für Violine, Röhrenglocke in cis ad lib. und Streicher
Study score
Item no.: 301382
for: Oboe
Music score
Item no.: 117666
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 177969
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 124428
for: für Trompete
Item no.: 113599
for: Flute
Item no.: 124058
for: für Instrumentalensemble
Score
Item no.: 334198
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 113255
for: Piano
Item no.: 113153
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 113109
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 113051
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Item no.: 208871
for: Klarinette, Violine und Violoncello
Set of parts
Item no.: 1539040
for: Voice (tenor), orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 551401
A Tutor fpr Beginners and Advances Players
Pieces for solo soprano recorder from the middle ages to the present day
for: Descant recorder
Music score (anthology)
Item no.: 177174
for: Clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 283723
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108875
for: Viola (Violoncello, Klarinette) und Orchester
Klavierauszug mit Solostimmen
Item no.: 353594
12 Microludes for String Quartet
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 184660
Cantiones profanae (1936) – Reduced version for two pianos and percussion (1956)
Score (= Piano part)
for: 3 soloists (SABar), mixed choir (SATB), children's choir, 2 pianos, percussion
Score
Item no.: 351730
for: Piano [harp]
Music score
Item no.: 381792
for: Flute and other instruments
Score
Item no.: 262193
Cantiones profanae
for: Soli (STBar), gemischter Chor (SATB), Kinderchor, 2 Klaviere und Schlagzeug
Score
Item no.: 754453
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 635098
for: Women's choir (SSAA) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 695749
for: 6 Pianos 12 hands
Study score
Item no.: 139095
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 332095
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 758296
for: Voice (soprano), violin
Ensemble score
Item no.: 256504
from Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra
for: 2 violins [Melody instrument in B-flat, violin], cello, piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 218591
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 494940
for: 1–4 recorders
Item no.: 413541
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 101239
for: Harp
Item no.: 328992
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 672754
for: 2 alto saxophones, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1270885
for: Clarinet, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1270873
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 108874