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: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
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Item no.: 984035
for: Cello, orchestra
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Item no.: 877932
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 876940
for: Orchestra
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Item no.: 881380
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 870775
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1019082
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Item no.: 1655675
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 1654288
for: Chamber ensemble, tape
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Item no.: 1697347
for: Percussion instruments
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Item no.: 1681139
for: Concert band [youth concert band]
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Item no.: 1677646
for: Flexible ensemble
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Item no.: 1669969
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1669017
Vocal Score
for: Mixed choir (SSAATTBB) a cappella
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Item no.: 1668268
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 1667308
for: Orgel, Trompeten (2), Posaunen (3)
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Item no.: 1664538
for: 12 voices (SSSAAATTTBBB)
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Item no.: 1664365
for: Voice (soprano), orchestra
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Item no.: 1031270
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 1077985
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 1646233
for: Solo Tuba, zwei Klaviere und zwei Schlagzeuge
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Item no.: 1616903
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1611396
for: Piano
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Item no.: 1200487
for: Sopran solo, Mezzosopran solo, Klavier
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Item no.: 1200045
for: Piano
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Item no.: 1199520
for: Cello
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Item no.: 1199484
for: Sopran solo, Bariton solo, Klavier
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Item no.: 1199481
for: KAMMERMUSIK STREICH- + HOLZBLASINSTRUMENTE
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Item no.: 1203871
for: Cello, piano
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Item no.: 1346635
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet), orchestra
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Item no.: 1562626
for: 5 woodwinds (quintet)
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Item no.: 1558525
for: Trumpet, chamber orchestra
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Item no.: 1557035
for: Bandoneon [solo], orchestra
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Item no.: 1555826
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 1552875
for: Chamber ensemble
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Item no.: 1552828
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 1550982
for: Piano Quintet
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Item no.: 1547993
for: Chamber Ensemble, Soprano Voice
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Item no.: 1547702
for: gemischter Chor (SATB) und Vibraphon
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Item no.: 1546237
for: 8 instruments (octet)
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Item no.: 1478449
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
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Item no.: 1539091
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 1541990
for: Flute, Violoncello and Piano
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Item no.: 1541829
for: Piano and Chamber Ensemble
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Item no.: 1541807
for: Vocal and Ensemble
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Item no.: 1541773
for: Trombone, orchestra
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Item no.: 1541256
for: Organ Organ Accompaniment Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 894719