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: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 294901
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Marimba
Music score
Item no.: 922782
for: 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, organ
Set of parts (Wind instruments)
Item no.: 374466
for bass clarinet
for: Bass clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 670857
sur des mélodies de Carlos Gardel (no. 5-7)
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 665891
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 606526
String Quartet No. 2
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1555962
for: Guitar
Item no.: 371584
for: GES-T 5 INST
Item no.: 103082
for: Cello
Spielpartitur, Sammelband
Item no.: 117678
Hinshaw Secular
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1057469
Hinshaw Secular
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 902483
Burletta / Mitoka Dragomirna
for: Cello, piano
Score, part
Item no.: 646329
for: Violin, clarinet, piano
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 1658647
für Sprecher, Singstimme (tief) Oboe, Violoncello und Claves (Steinpaar)
for: Voice, narrator, chamber ensemble
3 Performance scores
Item no.: 663424
A Little Light Music(1995)
for: HRN VL KLAV
Item no.: 608589
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 657681
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 657680
(Klavier: linke Hand)
Eulenburg Studienpartituren
for: Piano, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 444312
für Sopran, Mandoline und Gitarre
Grenzland Edition
for: Voice (soprano), mandolin, guitar
Score, Parts
Item no.: 677125
Fünf Stücke für Schlagzeug (ein Spieler)
for: Schlagzeug
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1199490
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 191202
Populäre Musik und die Folgen
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 460131
nach Texten von Paul Celan - für tiefere Stimme und Klavier
for: Voice (low), piano
Item no.: 380371
Zehn Stücke für Klavier
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 682945
Europaeische Musik Deutschland
for: Flute, organ
Item no.: 483935
Suite in 17 movements for solo organ (movements 1-4)
Vol. 1
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 579541
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Item no.: 472844
for: Flute, piano
Item no.: 186099
für Schlagzeug, Gitarre und Akkordeon (1995)
for: Percussion, guitar, accordion
Score, Parts
Item no.: 245178
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 560179
for: Brass ensemble
Item no.: 313764
Band 2
Ein ideales Ergänzungsheft zu jeder Akkordeonschule
for: Accordion
Music score
Item no.: 397035
Klavierstück Nr.3
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 674667
Conductors Improvisation (1971)
Klangskizze in Modellen für variable Besetzungen
for: Mixed ensemble
Study score
Item no.: 117041
Klassik
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 988194
Klassik
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 269846
Klassik
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 269836
Klassik
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 269808
Gegenwartsmusik
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 923043
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Percussion ensemble (6 players)
Buch
Item no.: 922763
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Vocal, SATB and Orchestra
Buch
Item no.: 922346
Quatuor à cordes n°1
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 922344
Gegenwartsmusik
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 922198
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Viola
Music score
Item no.: 922178
Gegenwartsmusik
for: SATB, Clavecimbal and Percussion
Score, Parts
Item no.: 921871
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Flute, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 921201