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: Organ
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 285366
for: Organ
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 285313
for: Voice (low), piano
Item no.: 285303
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 285158
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 607826
for: Violin, viola, cello (string trio)
Item no.: 284807
for: Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano
Item no.: 284780
for: Organ
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 284729
for: Male choir
Choir score
Item no.: 583394
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 286720
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 383599
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 358875
Cycle De Paques-Dominica 4 Post Pascha-Orgue
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1682002
Out of the Depths
The Vaclav Nelhybel Edition
for: Trumpet, concert band
Score, Piano reduction, Solo parts
Item no.: 1688449
Konzertmarsch von J. P. Sousa in einer Bearbeitung von S. Goldhammer
for: Concert band
Conductors part, set of parts
Item no.: 1688021
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Piano score, parts
Item no.: 1696605
Fassung für Kammerorchester
NM10796
for: Chamber orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1696581
Marsch
for: Concert band
Conductors part (C), Parts
Item no.: 1692131
for: Brass ensemble (19 parts), timpani
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1696384
Polonaise, Op. 49
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1668815
D’apres des vieux cahiers
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1670115
Repertoire Explorer
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1689958
for: Concert band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1078332
für Orchester
Studienpartitur
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1343863
for: Brass band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1145553
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1077650
Harmonia-Mixed Choir
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 911516
Studienpartitur
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1344837
Schule
for: Theory
Buch
Item no.: 1194264
Klassik
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1100788
Realisation
for: Instrument
Music score
Item no.: 834298
Supplication
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 1040184
for: Concert band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1077013
für Klavier
for: Piano
Item no.: 1343746
for: Concert band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1077428
for: Flute, orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1215383
from the Opera Tosca
for: Tenor and Concert Band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1198272
for: Concert band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1077474
for: Organ and Brass Quintet, Timpani, and opt. Percussion
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1093917
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 1039026
Nø2.8.9.10.12.18
for: 2 clarinets
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1138224
for: Choir and Concert Band
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1077896
Ballet in three acts by Marius Petipa
Piano reduction
Item no.: 759251
TV, Film, Musical und Show
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1119087
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1198622
(Le vol de l'abeille)
for: Orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 743448
for: Double bass, piano
Music score
Item no.: 664462
for: 2 flugelhorns, concert band
Conductors part (B-flat), set of parts
Item no.: 1639255