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.
Ramble on the love-duet edited for piano by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1927)
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 760522
Lady In The Dark
for: Lead Sheet
Item no.: 1526269
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360452
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360177
arranged for Orchestra by the composer
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 726741
A Wonderful Town
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1529628
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361971
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1365251
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360176
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363084
for: Piano
Item no.: 1362106
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361995
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1380009
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361292
Skandinavische Chorstücke
Klavier- und Orgelbegletiungen
for: Mixed choir, organ [piano]
Music score (piano and organ accompaniment)
Item no.: 631890
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 315482
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363082
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360616
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361833
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360224
for: Choral
Item no.: 1377557
for: Choral
Item no.: 1377556
Wonderful Town
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1529635
On the Town
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1529556
The Threepenny Opera
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1386583
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1386581
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 315030
for double bass and piano
for: Double bass, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 131698
for: Jazz ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1384155
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1364371
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1359575
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363071
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1362735
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363296
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1365162
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360615
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360236
for: Choir
Sheet music
Item no.: 1543003
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1384158
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1360175
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1365152
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363178
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363132
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1363103
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1362746
for: Piano
Item no.: 1361771
for: Piano/Vocal/Chords
Item no.: 1361610
for: Jazz ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1378514
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