The classical modern period, 1900-1945, saw a great deal of cultural change, and many different composers helped shape the musical landscape of the early 20th century. Browse our sheet music and scores, take a look at our Classical Modern Sheet Music Downloads, and explore the wide world of classical modernism with Stretta Music today
The horrors of World War I brought about such a shift in perspective, that art would never be the same again. The cultural and social changes that had already begun at the end of the 19th century led to new prospects, which were mirrored and expressed through various innovative artistic movements, them sum of which is called Classic Modernism.
During the 20th century, the boundaries of tonality were stretched so far that one could no longer speak of tonal music. The most striking examples of this are polytonality, employed by composers like Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, and Charles Ives, and to an even greater extent serialism, the twelve-tone music of Arnold Schönberg and his students.
The rise of nationalism in the late 19th century sparked a great interest in rediscovering folk music. New technical developments, such as the invention of the phonograph, also made it easier to document and collect folk music. Great folk Pioneers were the Romanian composer Béla Bartók, the Czech composer Leo Janáček, the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, and the Australian-American composer Percy Grainger.
This development led to a new idiom within classical music, both melodically and rhythmically. Good examples of the integration of folklore into classical modern music are the melodies from Janáček’s Jenufa, which are based on the rhythm and intonation of the Czech language, and Bartók’s Second Violin Rhapsody.
Expressionists aimed to capture true emotions without glossing over them. Above all, they looked at the subjective inner world, in contrast to the outer world, and left all traditional ideals of beauty behind.
Expressionist music is characterised by dissonance, extreme dynamics and great contrasts in colour, pitch and effect. In music, expressionism is generally associated with the Second Viennese School, founded by Arnold Schönberg and his students Anton Webern and Alban Berg, and the dodecaphonic, twelve-tone technique they used, known as serialism.
Examples of expressionist music include Schönberg’s Erwartung, 1909, and Berg’s Wozzeck, 1922.
Another classical modern departure from the ideals of the Romantic Period was to draw on forms and tropes of the Baroque Period and the Classical Period. This was expressed in the use of traditional musical forms, as in Martinů’s Concerto da Camara, 1937, the use of traditional instrumentation, as in Manuel de Falla’s Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Cello, 1926, and also in the use of thematic material from the 18th and 19th centuries, such as in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, 1920.
(1949/1959)
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (spiral binding)
Item no.: 666644
Unpublished Works Collection 2
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 614781
für Altblockflöte oder Flöte und Klavier oder Streichquartett
for: Treble recorder [flute], piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 463114
for: Voice (soprano), orchestra
Klavierauszug
Item no.: 352317
''Karol Szymanowski - Works'' ed. by T. Chylińska, GA/CE B9 prepared by B. Konarska
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 551801
for: Piano, orchestra
Book
Item no.: 348387
for two pianos
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction (2 piano's)
Item no.: 109179
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 433112
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 170628
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 367054
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108914
Revised version (1903-1904, rev. 1905)
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo parts
Item no.: 732549
for: Guitar, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 393761
For orchestra
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 149923
for recorder orchestra
The Recorder Orchestra
for: BFL ENSEMBLE (SAAATTBGBFL)
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 374815
op. 97
for: Violine, Klarinette und Klavier
Score, Parts
Item no.: 154842
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 158354
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 404578
für Violine und Violoncello
for: Violin, cello
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 124404
Paris, 1900
for: Oboe [flute/clarinet (B-flat)/violin], cello [viola/bassoon/clarinet (B-flat)], piano
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 5249
Highlights aus "Die Csárdásfürstin", "Gräfin Mariza", "Der Zigeunerprimas", "Die Zirkusprinzessin", etc.
bearbeitet für Klavier, Gesang und optionales Instrumentalensemble
for: Voice, piano
Piano score
Item no.: 680148
Original version
for: Clarinet (B-flat), violin, viola, cello, piano left hand
Score, Single parts
Item no.: 562762
for bassoon and string quintet or string orchestra
for: Bassoon, string quintet [string orchestra]
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 749339
for: Cello, piano
Score, part
Item no.: 260874
for: 5 woodwinds (quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 298948
in six movements
Neue Studienpartituren-Reihe
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 124595
for: Soloist (tenor), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 581093
for: Clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 279867
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 696238
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 303266
for: 2 pianos
Piano reduction
Item no.: 317094
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 341454
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 261770
Eulenburg Miniature Scores
for: Guitar, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 392542
for: 4 flutes (quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 104506
Gesänge für eine Singstimme und Orchester
Neue Kritische Gesamtausgabe der Internationalen Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft Wien
for: Voice, orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 143758
Unpublished Works Collection
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 614782
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 297678
per canto e pianoforte
for: Voice (medium), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 4071
for: Double bass, piano
Book
Item no.: 164474
based on 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 113827
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 297870
for: Symphonic orchestra
Piano part for conductor, Parts
Item no.: 309033
A sonata for two clarinets - one in Bb and one in A.
for: 2 clarinets
Ensemble score
Item no.: 279855
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), narrator, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 120388
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 444015
for: Alto saxophone (E-flat), chamber orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 290310
for: Oboe, piano
Music score, online audio
Item no.: 641708