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.
for violoncello and piano
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 180124
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 177969
Score
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 316023
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 861065
Klassik
for: Chamber ensemble
Buch
Item no.: 212150
pour clarinette en si bémol & piano
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 134126
16 great Classics
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 620918
Két tétel
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 186078
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 200215
for four Cellos
for: 4 cellos
Score, Parts
Item no.: 164031
op. 68
for: für Klavier
Item no.: 124301
Russische Musik der Moderne
Boosey and Hawkes Pocket Scores
for: Piano, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 109211
für tiefe Singstimme und Klavierop. 50
for: Voice (low), piano
Item no.: 106742
5 Bände mit je deutsch-englisch-französischer Einführung
for: Piano
Item no.: 106199
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Book
Item no.: 268023
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon (quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 131871
op. 42a
for: für Trompete
Item no.: 113599
Kleine Kantate
for: für Tenor, Bariton, Männerchor (oder 3 Männerstimmen) und Orchester
Study score
Item no.: 113340
für Sopran und Klavier
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 113109
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Alto saxophone, string orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 558203
pour quatre Flûtes en Ut
for: Flötenquartett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 238447
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 162080
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 185921
Cantiones profanae
Eulenburg Studienpartituren
for: 3 soloists (SABar), mixed choir (SATB), children's choir, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 392558
für Violoncello und Orchester Nr. 1 (3. Fassung)H 196 III
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 351518
für Gesang und Klavier
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 113255
für Violine
for: Violin
Item no.: 393023
Urtext
for: Wind ensemble
Study score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 696038
Eulenburg Miniature Scores
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 261198
Southern Music Woodwind
for: Bass clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 336402
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 156363
Russische Musik der Moderne
for: Flute, piano
Item no.: 208330
Eight piano duets from the beloved musical
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 473767
for: 2 pianos
Item no.: 351770
Bearbeitung für Klavier
for: Piano
Item no.: 617080
from Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra
for: 2 violins [Melody instrument in B-flat, violin], cello, piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 218591
New Urtext Edition with comparison of sources and reproduction of fragments from the autograph manuscript
for: Classical guitar
Music score
Item no.: 1681650
Suite: Preludio
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 991297
1st - 7th Position
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 199909
1.-3. Lage
for: Violin [cello], piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 199906
Sevcik Viola Studies
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 199720
Orchestersuite mit Erzählung
for: Narrator, flexible ensemble (school orchestra); children's choir ad lib.
Score, Parts
Item no.: 227851
für Cornett / Trompete / Klarinette und Klavier
for: Trumpet (B-flat) [clarinet], piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3692
2nd Piano Sonata
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 729535
Edition Schott
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 725976
Mephistos Lied in Auerbachs Keller
for: Voice (low), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1649
of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber for Orchestra (1943)
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 740128
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 3865