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: Clavecimbal
Book
Item no.: 239516
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 315732
for: Piano Quintet [Piano, Cello, Viola and 2 Violins]
Score, Parts
Item no.: 296252
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 928607
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 928485
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 299680
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 927778
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 925857
for: 4 recorders (quartet)
Score
Item no.: 187063
for: Mixed choir, piano
Score
Item no.: 185611
for: GCH/STRQU/HZBL
Score
Item no.: 355083
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 353877
for: gemischter Chor (SATB), Soli (ABar) und Instrumente
Score
Item no.: 353628
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 164774
for: Salon orchestra
Score
Item no.: 205911
for: SPR VC KLAV
Score
Item no.: 228862
for: Accordion orchestra
Score
Item no.: 222190
for: Accordion orchestra
Score
Item no.: 219606
for: Accordion orchestra
Score
Item no.: 218884
for: Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1349796
for: 4 violins
Score
Item no.: 1340505
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 851938
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 338270
Nine meditations
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1653411
for: Chamber orchestra
Score
Item no.: 833297
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 833280
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 833174
for: Vocal, Clarinet, Violin and 2 Pianos
Score
Item no.: 833173
for: Brass ensemble
Score
Item no.: 833085
for: Chamber orchestra
Score
Item no.: 833079
for: Mixed ensemble
Score
Item no.: 833016
for: Saxophone
Music score
Item no.: 832924
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 832637
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 832563
for: soli, choir and orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 832491
for: Guitar
Score
Item no.: 833462
for: Opera
Score
Item no.: 833407
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 833301
for: Recorders [SAT]
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1004981
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 910371
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Score
Item no.: 486502
for: Oboe, cello, piano
Score
Item no.: 465666
Edition Musica Europa (Überformat) (Oversize)
for: 6 PERC
Score
Item no.: 474464
for: Blockflöte / Flöte / Oboe /KLAR) Gitarre, (KB) 2 KEYB (Vibraphon/KLAV)
Score
Item no.: 472759
for: 3 Klarinetten, 2 XYL 2 Klaviere, Streichquartett
Score
Item no.: 472085