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: Women's Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 952326
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Voice (soprano), chamber ensemble
Buch
Item no.: 921845
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 270785
Hawkes Pocket Scores
for: Brass and Strings
Study score
Item no.: 603055
for: Cello, chamber orchestra
Solo parts
Item no.: 1558240
for: Flute, Harp and Strings
Set of parts
Item no.: 888621
Piano Preludes
for: Piano
Music score, CD
Item no.: 893707
for violoncello and guitar quartet
for: 4 guitars, cello
Set of parts
Item no.: 1478452
Hausmusik 169
for: String orchestra
Music score
Item no.: 446231
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1646983
for: 2 Flöten, Oboe, Englischhorn und 2 Fagotte
Set of parts
Item no.: 1539104
for: EHRN KB CEMB (KLAV)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 490688
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 662910
for: Kinderchor, Gemeinde und Instrumente
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 357306
für Orgel
for: Organ
Single part Organ
Item no.: 633948
for: Clarinet, viola, piano
Music score
Item no.: 244133
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 900084
from Four Swedisch Songs
for: 4-Part Treble Voices [SSAA]
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 895633
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1059720
for: Guitar ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 587169
op. 64
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Set of parts
Item no.: 683922
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1560792
for: Mixed choir (SSATBB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 111421
Lyric book
Item no.: 199257
for: Orchestra
Conductor score
Item no.: 287304
for: Chamber ensemble
Set of parts
Item no.: 1147515
for: 2 violins, viola, 2 cellos (quintet)
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1148940
for: Solovoice, Choir and Orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1148862
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 392557
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 1582546
for: String orchestra, percussion
Study score
Item no.: 1546012
for: Voice (soprano), instruments
Score, Parts
Item no.: 670590
for: 2 violins
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1545434
for: Frauenstimme und Violine
Item no.: 1632814
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 865178
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 864381
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 883724
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 965148
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 965144
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 318746
for: 7 Trumpets and Percussion
Score, Parts
Item no.: 318581
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 870110
for: Voices and Piano
Book
Item no.: 993286
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 993220
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 992810
for: Concert band
Study score
Item no.: 887423
for: Brass band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 881762
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 924696