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.
Early Piano Music, Vol. III
First Edition
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 446873
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 160551
for: Violin, cello
Music score
Item no.: 1203303
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 779304
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 359010
for: Tuba, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 613401
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 391661
for: Bassoon, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 190936
in twenty-six pieces for guitar
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 620473
Revised version (1903-1904, rev. 1905)
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 106728
13 choral preludes op. 79b - 4 choral preludes without opus number
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 731360
Bb
for: Cello
Instrumental Solo
Item no.: 1051714
Klassik
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 395615
Klassik
for: Vocal, Flute and Organ
Book
Item no.: 281580
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 624452
Russische Klaviermusik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 635580
Orgel und orchester
Studienpartitur (frz)
for: CHORMUSIK GEMISCHTER CHOR MIT BEGLEITUNG GEISTLICH EINZELN
Study score
Item no.: 648510
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 560312
Gestatteter Nachdruck (1932, Verlag Jatho, Berlin)
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1203024
Klassik
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 269986
for: Harmonium
Music score
Item no.: 565282
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 298592
Klassik
for: Classical guitar
Music score
Item no.: 336362
for: Horn, strings
Score, Parts
Item no.: 137306
Zum 75. Todestag von Hans Fährmann 2015
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 635664
für zwei Flöten
for: 2 flutes (duet)
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 666016
for: Piano
Ensemble score
Item no.: 874811
12 kleine Stücke nach eigenen Liedern
for: Violin, piano
Item no.: 161651
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon (quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 345697
for: Voice (mezzo-soprano), clarinet [violin], cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 770319
Streichorchester für Oboe, Fagott
und Klavier
for: KAMMERMUSIK TASTEN-/BALG- + HOLZBLASINSTRUMENTE TRIOS
Item no.: 371687
for piano
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 160777
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1202852
for: Violin, cello
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 1203412
for: Guitar
Item no.: 161588
"Ballade"
Simrock Original Edition
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 172606
for: Violin, piano
Ensemble score, solo part
Item no.: 114182
op. 10
for: für Streichquartett
Set of parts
Item no.: 124389
for: Flute, string orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 688002
The Brass Press
for: Trumpet, chamber orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 1023273
Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 964
for: 2 String Orchestras, Piano and Percussion
Study score
Item no.: 289689
for: String orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 404492
für Flöte und Klavier (1932-1952)
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 649658
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383277
for: Cello
Item no.: 357263
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 942286
Operette in drei Akten
Klavierauszug mit Text
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 128162