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: Orchestra
Einzelstimme Klarinette I
Item no.: 784889
Improvisation und Ausarbeitung
for: Schalmei(en) und Begleitung
Music score
Item no.: 793066
No.1 "Eight Pattern Preludes"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 791268
for: Trumpet (B-flat), piano
Music score
Item no.: 791858
No. 1 from "Fantasy Preludes"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 791573
for: VC BL
Study score
Item no.: 382437
for: 4 melodic instruments
Ensemble score
Item no.: 413754
for: Clarinet, violin, piano
Score
Item no.: 340907
for: Wind ensemble
Set of parts
Item no.: 1022823
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1022555
for: Mixed Choir(satb/sab)
Item no.: 1707824
from the musical fairytale "Pollicino"
for: Orchestra
Einzelstimme Altmetallophon
Item no.: 783724
(Tradition III,3)
for: mittelhohe Singstimme und ein Akkord- und/oder ein tiefes Melodieinstrument
Music score
Item no.: 793074
3. Entr'acte: Die Tulpe / 4. Elegie: Wenn mein Vater mit mir geht
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 747570
No.5 from "Eight Pattern Preludes"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 791272
for: Flugelhorn, concert band
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 1022187
for: Flugelhorn, concert band
Set of parts
Item no.: 1022185
Simrock Original Edition
for: Double bass, piano
Music score
Item no.: 725128
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 306610
for: VA SCHLAGW
Item no.: 283301
for: Soprano Voice and Piano Accompaniment
Buch
Item no.: 840931
for: Trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba
TRP HRN POS + TUBA
Item no.: 306515
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 1586939
for: Choir
Choir part Tenor
Item no.: 490653
for: Flute, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 310030
for: 2 violins, cello
Study score
Item no.: 309988
Piano reduction
Item no.: 306668
for: FL FAG
Score, Parts
Item no.: 306359
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 140868
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon (wind quintet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 306399
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 306330
Piano reduction
Item no.: 306211
for: Flute, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 306076
for: SCHLAGZ (3-4)
Ensemble score
Item no.: 306690
for: Percussion, piano
Item no.: 306684
for: OB HRN
Score, Parts
Item no.: 306368
for: OB FAG
Score, Parts
Item no.: 306364
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Set of parts
Item no.: 306278
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 136191
for: Piano
Item no.: 305480
for: Piano
Item no.: 305479
for: 2 ORCH 3 POS CEL
Study score
Item no.: 310237
for: Cello, piano
Score, part
Item no.: 305978
for: Piano
Item no.: 305476
for: String orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 310334
for: String orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 310267