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: Clarinet, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 606436
for: 4 cellos
Set of parts (4)
Item no.: 285263
for: Flute, clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 1203553
for: Organ
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 286030
for: Salon orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 338768
arranged for Organ
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 383036
for: für Orchester
Taschenpartitur
Item no.: 151460
for: für Klavier
Item no.: 124301
(1911)
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 724624
for: 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos (sextet)
Study score
Item no.: 1134811
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 418756
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 159853
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 113109
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 796225
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Item no.: 488199
for: Organ manuals [harmonium]
Music score
Item no.: 366881
for: Harp
Item no.: 327852
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 777841
Lyric book
Item no.: 344674
for: Narrator, guitar
Score
Item no.: 197329
for: Soloist (tenor), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1654453
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 2706
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 180124
for: Violin
Item no.: 393023
Eight piano duets from the beloved musical
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 473767
for: Treble recorder [flute], piano
Item no.: 420998
after the ballet "Les malheurs de Sophie" for 10 wind instruments
for: 2 Flöten, 2 Oboen, 2 Klarinetten in B, 2 Hörner in F und 2 Fagotte
Score
Item no.: 748477
for: Trombone, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 266906
for Guitar
Guitar Archive
Edition Schott
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 393708
for: Bassoon, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 254236
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1346469
Urtext edition based on HN 7248 (G. Henle Verlag, Munich)
for: Oboe, orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 776818
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 162080
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 113255
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 356199
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 558198
16 great Classics
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 620918
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 284628
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 404224
for: Bass clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 336402
for: Piano
Item no.: 284280
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 623224
for: Wind ensemble
Study score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 696038
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1357259
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 302269
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 576261
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 177969