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: Mixed ensemble
Score
Item no.: 833417
for: Mixed Choir and Ensemble
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Item no.: 271055
for: Mixed ensemble
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Item no.: 270721
for: Vocal Ensemble
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Item no.: 584001
for: Cello, orchestra
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Item no.: 660095
for: Flexible ensemble
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Item no.: 672606
for: BAS HRN STR QUARTETT
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Item no.: 347415
for: Flute, clarinet, violin, cello (quartet)
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Item no.: 346587
for: FL OB KLAR 2 GIT SCHLAGZ 2 VL VA VC KB
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Item no.: 204693
for: Flöte KLAR
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Item no.: 168327
for: 4 FL 2 KLAR 2 TRP GIT KLAV SCHLAGZ KCH 2 VL 2 VC
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Item no.: 168158
for: 3 BFL TAPE
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Item no.: 370210
for: Accordion orchestra
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Item no.: 242033
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
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Item no.: 217868
for: Classical
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Item no.: 252774
for: Accordion orchestra
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Item no.: 220001
for: Accordion orchestra
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Item no.: 339649
for: Harp, 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 337546
for: Voice (alto), orchestra
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Item no.: 383239
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Item no.: 558852
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 555466
for: 5 strings
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Item no.: 565740
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
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Item no.: 299733
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 839388
for: Cello Quartet
Buch
Item no.: 877431
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 875501
for: Chamber ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 837545
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 837433
for: Chamber ensemble
Score
Item no.: 837219
for: 2 pianos
Piano reduction
Item no.: 635835
for: Voice (tenor), piano
Vocal score
Item no.: 635735
for: Violin
Sheet music
Item no.: 633544
for: Oboe, horn, violin, cello, piano
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Item no.: 633532
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 956506
for: Violin and Harpsichord Accompaniment
Set of parts
Item no.: 858934
for: Chamber ensemble
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Item no.: 1541899
for: Chamber ensemble
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Item no.: 1541886
for: Choir, Clarinet, Trombone, Accordion, String Ensemble
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Item no.: 1541844
for: 4 Pianos
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Item no.: 1193904
for: 2 Children's Voices and 10 Instruments
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Item no.: 1103782
for: Bassoon Ensemble
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Item no.: 1102956
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1070261
for: String orchestra
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Item no.: 1140303
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
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Item no.: 1121047
for: Male choir (TTBB) a cappella
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Item no.: 1121033
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 832296