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.
Chester Woodwind Series
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 128726
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 367054
Ballet Chanté
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
Mexican serenata
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 189688
Reduced Version
for: 2 solo voices (MezBar), mixed choir (SATB), string orchestra, organ; trumpet, harp, kettle drums ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 174025
for two pianos
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction (2 piano's)
Item no.: 109179
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108914
2 Copies needed to perform
for: 2 pianos
Piano reduction
Item no.: 317094
for: Melody instrument (C), piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 174903
Great Performer's Edition
for: 2 violins
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 318084
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction (Hardcover)
Item no.: 260622
for: Horn, piano
Book
Item no.: 358508
Corrected Edition 1997
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 303266
''Karol Szymanowski - Works'' ed. by T. Chylińska, GA/CE B7
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 696238
10 virtuose Stücke
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 656967
für Violoncello und Klavier
for: Cello, piano
Score, part
Item no.: 260874
aus "Vier kleine Präludien und Fugen für die Orgel" (1928)
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 282921
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 158354
for: Oboe, piano
Music score, online audio
Item no.: 641708
A sonata for two clarinets - one in Bb and one in A.
for: 2 clarinets
Ensemble score
Item no.: 279855
Musique Française
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1054436
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 101277
Alfred Masterwork Edition
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 297678
Revised edition, 1994
includes audio demonstration and accompaniment tracks
for: Flute, piano
Music score, online playback
Item no.: 638505
Walzer aus der Operette "Die lustige Witwe"
for: Symphonic orchestra
Piano part for conductor, Parts
Item no.: 309033
Eulenburg Miniature Scores
for: Guitar, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 392542
for: Double bass, piano
Book
Item no.: 164474
Psaume symphonique en trois parties – Symphonischer Psalm in drei Teilen
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), narrator, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 120388
für Klavier
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 674135
for: Organ
Item no.: 314361
für große Orgel
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 100752
14 scènes enfantines
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 411283
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 315684
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 205443
Prüfungsliteratur
for: Guitar or Lute
Book
Item no.: 188222
for violoncello and piano
for: Cello, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 225410
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 197790
Series: Richard Strauss Works – Critical Edition (RSW) 5
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Hardcover)
Item no.: 773524
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 213567
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 106518
for Solo Violin
Violin Miniatures 124
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 105786
Variation Nr. 18
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 349923
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1552139
Volume 4: Pièces de Concert
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 472048
for Organ
founded on Antiphons
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 403727
(Urtext)
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 617082
Revidierte Ausgabe nach der Neuen Gesamtausgabe
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 108874