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: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 370747
for: Guitar or Lute
Score
Item no.: 156044
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 584846
Score
Item no.: 227295
for: Violin, piano
Item no.: 211799
for: Choir
Piano reduction
Item no.: 471952
The Original Edition
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 627985
for: 2 flutes, piano
Buch
Item no.: 271143
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 183213
for: Flute
Score
Item no.: 646241
for: Organ
Item no.: 489666
for: Viola, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 305916
for: Flute, guitar
Ensemble score
Item no.: 203383
for: Alto flute
Music score
Item no.: 425885
for: Oboe, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 478899
for: Trombone, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 372550
for: Accordion, piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 367595
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 367153
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 579988
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 165046
for: Cello, piano
Item no.: 163882
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108927
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 108896
for: Clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello
Study score
Item no.: 108727
for: 4 clarinets
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1530974
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 375475
for: String Quartet and tape
Study score
Item no.: 906383
for: Women's choir (SSAA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 619536
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 493522
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Vocal score
Item no.: 283417
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 334980
for: für Streichquartett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 554627
for: für Oboe, Klarinette, Violine, Violoncello und Klavier
Score, Parts
Item no.: 207018
for: 2 cellos
Ensemble score
Item no.: 771163
for: 2-Part Choir, Piano and Flute
Choir score
Item no.: 1087154
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 256717
for: SATB Divisi Unaccompanied
Choir score
Item no.: 1087150
for: Tuba, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 193026
for: Organ
Ensemble score
Item no.: 190886
for: Voice (soprano)
Music score (reprint)
Item no.: 256106
for: Trumpet, organ
Item no.: 381302
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 174759
for: Flute, Violin and Guitar
Book
Item no.: 887782
für Schlagzeug solo
for: Percussion
Item no.: 381444
for: Harp
Music score
Item no.: 176262
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 242321