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: Women's choir a cappella
Chorpartitur, Sammelband
Item no.: 115021
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 240036
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 240008
for: 2 violins, viola, cello, piano (piano quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 411238
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 432022
for: Piano
Single edition
Item no.: 412987
for: Trio
Score
Item no.: 411807
for: Cello or 2 Celli and Piano
Score
Item no.: 411771
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 411406
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 411345
for: Voice, Piano and String Orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1212632
for: Flute, piano
Score
Item no.: 101244
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100877
for: Flute, Harp and Piano
Book
Item no.: 100762
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 388837
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 908337
for: Trumpet, chamber orchestra
Score
Item no.: 462181
for: 5 trumpets
Score, Parts
Item no.: 208034
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 176096
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108788
for: Violin, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 868943
for: Organ
Score
Item no.: 101278
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 858196
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 389852
for: Cello, guitar
Item no.: 393951
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 770665
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 109181
for: Cello, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 108947
for: Piano
Item no.: 356960
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 395361
for: Organ or Harmonium
Buch
Item no.: 283825
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 283504
Allowed reprint (1902, Gutheil, Moskau)
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1202287
for: Flute, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 298260
for: Horn (F), piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100864
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 268258
Tone Poem for Large Orchestra
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 777006
for: Guitar
Score
Item no.: 197331
for: Classical guitar
Music score, online playback
Item no.: 291795
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 223292
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 108869
for: 2 violins, viola, cello; double bass ad lib.
Score, Parts
Item no.: 480600
Lyric book
Item no.: 128217
for: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 155701
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 197790
for: Cello, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 294378
for: Salon orchestra
Piano part for conductor, Parts
Item no.: 406136
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 179371
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