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: 3 trumpets
Score
Item no.: 1016901
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 632105
for: VC KB FAG CEMB HA SCHLAGZ
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 185347
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1552050
for: Clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello
Study score
Item no.: 108727
for: Violin, piano
Item no.: 211799
for: Trumpet, organ
Item no.: 270666
for: 2-Part Choir, Piano and Flute
Choir score
Item no.: 1087154
for: SATB Divisi Unaccompanied
Choir score
Item no.: 1087150
for: Voice, piano
Item no.: 342480
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 634494
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 490694
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 367153
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 194407
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 299551
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 584846
for: String Quartet and tape
Study score
Item no.: 906383
– Price reduction possible for orders of larger quantities –
for: Mixed choir (SSAATTBB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 463720
for: Organ
Single edition
Item no.: 656758
for: 4 violas
Score, Parts
Item no.: 613372
for: 2 flutes, piano
Buch
Item no.: 271143
for: Flute, cello
Item no.: 286147
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 380471
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 380467
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 381651
for: Percussion
Item no.: 381444
for soprano, flute(s), harp, double bass and percusion
for: Voice (soprano), chamber ensemble
Score
Item no.: 381283
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 579988
13 Images from the Dark Land
for Electric Sring Quartet (all doubling percussion)
4 Copies Needed for Performance
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 381158
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Vocal score
Item no.: 283417
for: 4 recorders (SATB quartet)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 397344
for: Organ
Ensemble score
Item no.: 190886
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108927
for: Cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 242415
for: Trumpet, organ
Item no.: 381302
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 256717
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 683426
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 380399
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108824
for: Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon
Score, Parts
Item no.: 267252
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 108803
2 Books
Item no.: 118446
for: Organ
Item no.: 608649
for: Bassoon
Score
Item no.: 266725
The Original Edition
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 627985
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 620065
Edition for Oboe and Piano
John Williams Signature Edition
for: Oboe, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 661540