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.
Book
Item no.: 745504
Music lesson book
Item no.: 374499
Book, CD
Item no.: 1316913
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 773233
Der Wirbel
for: Snare drum
Music lesson book
Item no.: 194242
Varios autores y pedagogos rusos
for: Piano
Music lesson book
Item no.: 770405
for: Instrument
Music lesson book
Item no.: 617179
Volume 1
for: Xylophone
Music lesson book
Item no.: 330992
from "Catulli Carmina"
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Music score
Item no.: 730987
Music lesson book
Item no.: 260288
Music lesson book
Item no.: 370551
for: Women's choir, piano
Piano reduction (2 piano's)
Item no.: 773936
Music lesson book (spiral binding)
Item no.: 372042
Music lesson book
Item no.: 374460
for: Voice (melody instrument]
Music lesson book
Item no.: 775091
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 124620
for: Flute
Music lesson book
Item no.: 131006
for: Flute
Music lesson book
Item no.: 1542703
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 773251
Item no.: 124181
Sudien und Übungen
for: Euphonium
Music score
Item no.: 474718
Item no.: 124180
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 773350
for: Voice (soprano), violin
Music score
Item no.: 773349
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 778173
Audio-CD
Item no.: 613156
Ein Gespräch
fragment 35
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 490642
for: Voice (tenor), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 776857
for: Voice (melody instrument]
Music score
Item no.: 260303
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Lyric book
Item no.: 778613
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 772929
Nr. 1 aus: Idegen földön
for: Women's choir (SMezA) a cappella
Music score
Item no.: 731009
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 772923
"Des Knaben Wunderhorn"; Nr. 8 aus: Acht Chorlieder
for: Women's choir (SSAA) a cappella
Music score
Item no.: 740356
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 772816
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 634819
for: Harp
Item no.: 376261
for: Viola [violin/cello], string orchestra
Score
Item no.: 678397
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 428813
for: 2–3 violas
Ensemble score
Item no.: 610100
Ten pieces for harp based on songs of various Jewish communities
for: Harp
Music score
Item no.: 648985
for: Violin, harp
Item no.: 364519
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 380183