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: Cello, harp
Item no.: 382772
für einen Schlagzeuger auf seinem Körper
Jean-Pierre Drouet gewidmet
for: Percussion
Music score
Item no.: 382644
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 491837
op. 97b
for: Harp
Item no.: 183818
Neue Studienpartituren-Reihe
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1317262
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 303015
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 622593
Solo Snare Drum
for: Snare drum
Music score
Item no.: 446887
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 492506
für Flöte und Klavier
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 381782
for: Double bass
Item no.: 216496
for: 3 recorders (SAT)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 417836
for: Organ, piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 180226
für Oboe, Klarinette, Horn und Fagott oder vier Klarinetten
for: Oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon
Study score
Item no.: 636218
Arrangement of the Sonata for Violoncello and Piano
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 328830
for: Mixed Choir and Ensemble
Piano reduction
Item no.: 198587
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 227012
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 175781
Edition Schott
for: Oboe
Music score
Item no.: 749585
en forme de Messe basse
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1209377
for: Mixed choir (SATB), string orchestra [organ]
Streicherstimmensatz 5 Violine I, 5 Violine II, 4 Viola, 3 Violoncello, 2 Kontrabass
Item no.: 741714
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 663387
for: Violin, piano
Item no.: 477671
for: Flute, harp
Ensemble score
Item no.: 858081
for: Alto saxophone, cello
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 680972
for: 2 recorders (SA)
Item no.: 420913
for: Oboe, harpsichord
Ensemble score, solo part
Item no.: 420716
for: Klarinette, Horn, Streichtrio und Klavier
Score, Parts
Item no.: 153603
für Oboe und Klavier
for: Oboe, piano
Item no.: 382121
for: Voice, recorder, percussion
Vocal score, ensemble scores
Item no.: 288537
for: Viola d'amore, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 353247
for: Organ
Item no.: 620688
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 185755
for: Trumpet [oboe/flute], organ
Score
Item no.: 281557
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 481800
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 657724
for: Viola [violin/cello], string orchestra
Score
Item no.: 678397
5th String Quartet DWV 106
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 677681
for: für Sopran und Orchester
Score
Item no.: 176549
for: 5 trombones
Score
Item no.: 382400
for: Percussion quartet (4 players)
Score
Item no.: 381875
for: Akkordeon und Klavier
Buch
Item no.: 325242
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 682498
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 614491
for violoncello solo
for: Cello
Single edition
Item no.: 1209470
for: Piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 381971
Lyric book
Item no.: 380351