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: Oboe, clarinet, bassoon
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 266732
for: Clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 239038
für Cello solo
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 682904
for: 2 Violins, Viola and 2 Cellos
Score
Item no.: 1148847
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 155488
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 198107
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 283717
for: 2 pianos
Item no.: 108939
for: Horn or Cello and Piano
Buch
Item no.: 269715
for: Organ [harmonium]
Music score
Item no.: 207644
for flute and piano
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 674784
for: Guitar
Item no.: 355520
for: Frauenstimme und Klavier
Item no.: 165260
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 100912
for: Harpsichord, percussion
Score
Item no.: 635025
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 370491
for: Violin, piano
Score
Item no.: 298262
for: Clarinet and Various Instruments
Score
Item no.: 204252
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 353759
for: Trombone, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100995
for: Violin, organ
Organ score, solo part
Item no.: 615836
for: Horn
Item no.: 130292
for: 2 pianos
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1552996
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon (wind quintet)
Study score
Item no.: 352552
for: Clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 767039
for: Flötenquartett
Score, Parts
Item no.: 100960
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 352603
Die schönsten Volks- und Kirchenlieder in leichten dreistimmigen Sätzen
for: Mixed choir (SABar) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 181122
for: Piano
Item no.: 213613
for: Clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello
Set of parts (4)
Item no.: 616968
for: Accordion
Music score
Item no.: 397030
for: Cello, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 380352
for: 2 pianos
Music score
Item no.: 197520
for: Alto saxophone, percussion, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 583322
for: 2 violins, piano
Piano score, Solo parts
Item no.: 218490
Five pieces from the CD "Stone Rose"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 615371
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 388782
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 659627
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 226958
for: Voice, piano
Piano score
Item no.: 336771
for: Voice (soprano), double bass
Music score
Item no.: 656238
for: Flute
Item no.: 313254
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 256607
Universal Orgel Edition
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 113986
Vocal Score
for: 3 soloists (SABar), mixed choir (SATB), children's choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 288322
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 279984
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 108843
from Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 170842