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: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1582007
for: Voice, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1351339
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Singpartitur
Item no.: 873805
for: Clarinet, cello, piano
Item no.: 142078
for: Voice (high), organ
Item no.: 472423
for: Viola, piano
Item no.: 192696
for: Voice, piano
Item no.: 306756
for: Voice, piano
Single edition
Item no.: 306732
for: Clarinet, viola, piano
Item no.: 306642
for: 2 trumpets (B-flat), horn (F), trombone, tuba
Set of parts
Item no.: 307627
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Study score
Item no.: 310453
for: OB HRN VA VC
Study score
Item no.: 310109
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon (wind quintet)
Study score
Item no.: 309960
for: Flute, viola, guitar
Study score
Item no.: 292112
for: FL OB KLAR HRN STR
Study score
Item no.: 246614
for: Accordion
Item no.: 260953
for: Diatonic accordion
Item no.: 211336
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 634478
for: Accordion orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 219433
for: Accordion orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 219378
for: Accordion orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 219291
for: Accordion orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 218885
for: Accordion
Item no.: 400969
for: Oboe [Flute, Clarinet], Violin, Cello and Harpsichord
Study score
Item no.: 1149018
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1103733
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1102816
for: Voice (soprano), chamber ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1161605
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1022707
for: Piccolo, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1115066
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 1043657
for: Choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1031189
for: Brass band
Score
Item no.: 1144943
for: Oboe Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1102684
for: String orchestra
Score
Item no.: 842948
for: Soprano and Chamber Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 907639
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 920883
for: Bass clarinet
Score
Item no.: 1162428
for: Piano and Instrument
Score
Item no.: 1162423
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 1174380
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 1171311
for: Oboe and Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1138099
for: Mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Score
Item no.: 668413
for: GCH (8)
Score
Item no.: 326154
for: FL VL KLAV CEMB
Score
Item no.: 326153
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 318260
for: Brass ensemble
Set of parts
Item no.: 858261
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 411159