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.
arranged for piano
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 686961
for: Double bassoon, piano
Item no.: 246641
für Klarinette, 2 Violinen, Viola, Violoncello und Kontrabaß
for: Clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass (string quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 663410
pour une voix ou choeur a l'unisson et orgue ou harmonium
for: Voice [choir], organ [harmonium]
Score
Item no.: 107559
for: Piano
Item no.: 118470
for: 2 bassoons [cellos], piano
Piano score, Solo parts
Item no.: 684748
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 601765
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 124020
for flute and piano
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 621162
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108824
Edition Peters Green Series
for: Voice
Music score
Item no.: 381053
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 367354
für Kontrabass solo
for: Double bass
Music score
Item no.: 486282
en forme de messe basse
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 107217
per viola solo
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 626236
für Cello solo
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 682904
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 431698
Including first publication of two further settings
for: Voice (mezzo-soprano), piano
Score
Item no.: 198547
(1940, rev. 1986)
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 655551
for: Violin (solo), viola (solo), string orchestra
Piano reduction, solo parts
Item no.: 290017
for: Violin (solo), viola (solo), string orchestra
Score
Item no.: 303488
For solo flute with optional electronics
for: Flute and Electronics
Buch
Item no.: 465821
für Violine und Violoncello
for: Violin, cello
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 124404
For Flute and Piano, Op. 23op. 23
for: Flute, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 228791
for: Clarinet, string orchestra, triangle
Score, solo part
Item no.: 494042
für Klarinette mit deutschem System und andere zeitgenössische Spieltechniken
mit CD-Rom
for: Clarinet
Music lesson book, CD-Rom
Item no.: 226350
Suite for orchestra (1919) arranged for 2 pianos by Achilleas Wastor (2015)
for: 2 pianos
Noten 2 Exemplare zur Aufführung nötig
Item no.: 760180
Nr. 1-12
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 108805
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 113494
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 108944
Nr. 13-24
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 108847
Flute (Technik) (Technique)
for: Flute
Item no.: 215358
for: Piano
Item no.: 577598
Klātbūtne (Presence)
for: Cello solo, string orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 724876
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 108816
for: Mezzosopran und Tonband oder für 3 Stimmen
Partitur
Item no.: 375823
Strategies and structures in new music from 1900-present
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 1011915
Five songs
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 292406
Baroque and Classical Era
for: Organ
Book and music score
Item no.: 237869
Part 3. Modern and Contemporary Music
for: Organ
Music lesson book
Item no.: 1215729
for: Clarinet, viola, piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 188237
für Klavier und Akkordeon
ars futura
for: Accordion, piano
Score
Item no.: 226244
for: Clarinet
Item no.: 286198
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 violins
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 108897
for: 2 violins
Ensemble score, solo parts
Item no.: 499293
for: Piano
Item no.: 113792
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: 2 voices (SB), string orchestra, latin percussion
Study score
Item no.: 108834
cantate pour double choeur mixte a cappella
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 245932