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: 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
for: Viola, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 331902
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 460392
for: Piano
Score, CD
Item no.: 388696
for: 3 soloists (SABar), mixed choir (SATB), children's choir, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 392558
for: Piano and Chamber Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 865810
for: Treble recorder, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 417831
for: für Violine
Item no.: 124062
Diabelli-Variation for piano
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 1549033
for an invisible percussionist
for: 1 Schlagzeug
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1340998
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 630567
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 392660
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 108903
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 355157
for: Violin, cello
Ensemble score
Item no.: 770671
Klassik
for: 4 Mixed Voices
Book
Item no.: 1194339
(unter dem Pseudonym "Robert Eaves" veröffentlicht)
for: Bass trombone, piano
Score, part
Item no.: 635457
for: Mixed choir (SATB), orchestra [organ]
Choir score
Item no.: 465718
PM Europe Publications
for: Marimba
Music score
Item no.: 348058
for: 4 recorders (quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 163381
for: Flute and String Trio
Buch
Item no.: 579271
for: Piano
Music score (spiral binding)
Item no.: 462635
für Baß-Klarinette
Harry Sparnaay gewidmet
for: Bass clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 382205
for: Accordion, viola
Ensemble score
Item no.: 655257
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Horn
Music score
Item no.: 923061
für Gesang und Streichquartett
Lee Hoiby gewidmet
for: Voice, strings
Score, Parts
Item no.: 380745
Klassik
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 205189
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Item no.: 552300
for: Streichtrio
Set of parts
Item no.: 389807
for: Piano
Item no.: 120513
for: Violoncello, ELEKTRONIK
Score
Item no.: 382211
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 240848
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 636301
from the cycle «Poética del laberinto»
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Set of parts
Item no.: 694021
for: Tuba In C or Tenor Horn B-Flat and Piano
Book
Item no.: 267065
for: Clarinet
Item no.: 106965
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 920817
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 184986
for: Tuba In C or Tenor Horn B-Flat and Piano
Book
Item no.: 267165
2 Humoristic Pieces
for: 2 pianos
Music score
Item no.: 754786
Edition Schott
for: 2 treble recorders (duet)
Music score
Item no.: 749647
Edition Schott
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 750432
of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber for Orchestra (1943)
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 740128
Air pour l'orchestre
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 782153
Concerto for flute, harp and orchestra in C major
for: Flute, harp
Single edition
Item no.: 760712
Edition Schott
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 725976