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
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Item no.: 852089
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 852064
for: Piano 4 hands
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Item no.: 851928
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 851820
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 851742
for: Marching band
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Item no.: 842344
for: Cello
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Item no.: 821948
for: Men's Choir a Cappella
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Item no.: 851639
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 851415
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
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Item no.: 908132
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
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Item no.: 906729
for: Choir
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Item no.: 865413
for: Symphonic Band
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Item no.: 868305
for: Violin, piano
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Item no.: 854336
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 854284
for: Violin, piano
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Item no.: 853975
for: Piano
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Item no.: 853265
for: Piano 4 hands
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Item no.: 853145
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Item no.: 853084
for: Piano 4 hands
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Item no.: 853001
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 852891
for: Harpsichord or 2 Harpsichords
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Item no.: 852414
for: Piano
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Item no.: 852321
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 853740
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Item no.: 853733
for: Choir
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Item no.: 853577
for: Voice, piano
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Item no.: 853372
for: school orchestra
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Item no.: 1117688
for: String orchestra
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Item no.: 1109186
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 1103029
for: Flute
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Item no.: 238453
for: Choir, orchestra
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Item no.: 288311
for: Women's choir [children's choir] (SSA), piano
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Item no.: 287895
for: Orchestra
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Item no.: 287695
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 941795
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 949502
for: Brass band
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Item no.: 978742
for: Symphonic orchestra
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Item no.: 328364
for: Mixed choir (SSATB) a cappella
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Item no.: 1637305
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1625015
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1649326
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1649141
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1649034
for: Concert band
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for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1648484
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 1648354
for: Concert band
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Item no.: 999608
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