ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author compares the history of musical styles and compositional techniques in the twentieth century to a mosaic made up of numerous, sometimes contrasting, stylistic tiles. He explains that at times some composers stood on two or more tiles at the same time or that they moved among various tiles in the course of their careers. The linear conception of progress that has at times been adopted by some historians and composers proposes that only fully original and new art is truly legitimate at a certain historical moment and that novelty is a sign of progress in the same way as attachment to old styles and forms is a sign of non-progressive conservatism. The linear conception of progress that has at times been adopted by some historians and composers proposes that only fully original and new art is truly legitimate at a certain historical moment.
