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.: 583143
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 432022
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 458843
for: Voice (baritone), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 1120955
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 411406
for: Piano
Score
Item no.: 212289
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 163506
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 100877
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 240008
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 578377
for: 2 pianos
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 317105
for: Organ
Item no.: 330556
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 101231
Item no.: 613455
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 388837
from: Tres piezas faciles, op. 19
for: Guitar
Music score
Item no.: 758547
14 Original Works
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 780190
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 389852
for: Flute, viola, harp
Item no.: 269080
for: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons (Double quintet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 466213
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 179371
for: Organ
Score
Item no.: 101278
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 636421
for: Violin, organ
Item no.: 314701
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 733539
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 205443
Lyric book
Item no.: 128217
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 190822
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 271593
Allowed reprint (1902, Gutheil, Moskau)
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1202287
for: Violin, piano
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 156008
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part, online audio (playback)
Item no.: 475444
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 223292
Volume 4: Free Organ Pieces II
Breitkopf Urtext on the basis of the Reger Complete Edition
for: Organ
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 286014
Volume 1: Fantasias and Fugues etc.
Breitkopf Urtext on the basis of the Reger Complete Edition
for: Organ
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 286011
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 629832
for: Organ or Harmonium
Buch
Item no.: 283825
for: Flute
Score
Item no.: 283674
for: Voice, flute, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 165802
First Edition
Volume 2
for: Voice (medium), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 491899
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 463610
for: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 155701
for: Women's choir (smeza), organ
Organ score
Item no.: 498431
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 286086
for: Organ
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 286031
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Score
Item no.: 283408
for: Violin, organ
Item no.: 284702
for: 3 cellos
Reprint
Item no.: 185000
There is a separate Stretta website for the country Worldwide. If your order is to be delivered to this country, you can switch, so that delivery times and shipping conditions are displayed correctly. Your shopping cart and your customer account will remain the same.