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: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1653231
for: String orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1558137
for: Bassoon, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 1558101
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1558055
for: Violine, Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1557808
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1557758
for: Violin, horn, piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 1017183
nach schwäbischen Volkstänzen
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 726648
for: 2 violins, viola, cello, piano (piano quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 674050
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 581081
for: Accordion orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 219426
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 314941
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 428030
for: Voice, 2 violins, viola, cello
Score
Item no.: 778752
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1057469
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 775753
for: Recorder, percussion
Item no.: 382785
for Solo Guitar
for: Guitar
Single edition
Item no.: 669784
for: 5 trumpets
Set of parts
Item no.: 383025
for: Clarinet, piano
Item no.: 382609
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Buch
Item no.: 315537
for: SSAATTBB
Choir score
Item no.: 985107
for: Soprano Solo, SATB
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1040084
for: SATB/SATB, Brass Ensemble or Chamber Orchestra, or Organ and Trumpet
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1039999
for: SATB divisi
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1041269
for: Male choir (TTBB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1039263
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1039167
for: Flute, chamber orchestra
Score (spiral binding)
Item no.: 666753
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 322157
for: Choir (2 voices), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 887459
for: Soprano Baritone Voice SATB
Choir score
Item no.: 883028
for: Men's Voices
Choir score
Item no.: 870678
for: Chamber ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1541966
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 227873
for: SSAATTBB
Buch
Item no.: 840979
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 880958
for: Children's Voices, SATB and Piano
Choir score
Item no.: 863908
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 321957
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 896888
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 158868
for: Trombone, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 267835
for: 2 Saxophones and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 874837
for: Harp, 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 673061
for: SATB, Organ or Orchestra
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1038091
for: Unison Voices, Wind Ensemble
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1037702
for: 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos (sextet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 216704
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 922292
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 776475