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.
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 875962
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 821014
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 882033
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 411122
for: Trumpet, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1590956
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 411367
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Buch
Item no.: 1138932
Sudien und Übungen
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 862482
March
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1063672
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 1174074
Waltz
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1067962
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Cello or 2 Celli and Piano
Score
Item no.: 1353297
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1211519
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 863486
Schule
for: Organ
Score
Item no.: 1194289
for: Bläserquintett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1197163
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1350469
for: Tenor Voice and String Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1215294
for: Brass band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1143668
set of string parts
for: Symphonic orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 1212329
Blasorchester
Einzelstimme
for: Concert band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 885654
Klassik
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110514
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 851928
for: Clarinet Sextet
Buch
Item no.: 1141699
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 821984
for: Salon Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1170748
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 411366
for: Voice, piano
Book
Item no.: 966037
String Orchestral Score
for: String orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1193832
Unfinished
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 1349844
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1195608
for: Salon Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1170701
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 921528
for: Brass band
Score
Item no.: 978742
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1212195
aus "6 Romanzen"
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1204720
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1350546
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 1211685
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1172155
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1649035
for: Tenor Voice and String Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1215234
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1141663
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 894099
Cles Mel Sol 2eme Fa 4eme Ut
for: Solfege
Book
Item no.: 1178120
for: Voice
Buch
Item no.: 1085689
Klassik
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1100813
3rd & 4th Horns In F
for: Concert band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1618761