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: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1204720
for: Violin, piano
Score
Item no.: 294700
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 173901
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 170197
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1204619
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1118097
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1100813
for: Mixed choir (SAB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 863671
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 327109
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1319564
for: Male choir
Score
Item no.: 258170
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 821085
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 412162
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110514
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 683981
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1110276
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Lyric book
Item no.: 777685
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 779194
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Lyric book
Item no.: 776639
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 923096
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 777978
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1105976
for: Violin, piano
Score
Item no.: 853975
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 161262
for: Men's Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 851639
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 1171404
for: Salon orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1590739
for: Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 837866
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Piano reduction
Item no.: 836644
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Music score
Item no.: 643142
Choir score
Item no.: 1176418
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 1155677
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Book
Item no.: 993405
for: Men's Voices
Choir score
Item no.: 818153
for: Female Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 818058
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1007431
for: Choir
OTHER
Item no.: 1341452
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 1006251
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Book
Item no.: 1006027
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 797158
for: Mixed choir; piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 337825
for: Children's Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 922654
for: Children's Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 890020
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 884218
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 882139
for: Children's Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 881994
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