Novelty in Polish music avant-garde discussions in the late 1960s and early 1970s

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to describe the ongoing discussion in the late 1960s and early 1970s on the pages of the Polish musical press concerning the category of 'novelty'. This appellation, the consequence of progress, together with experiments in the main value of modernity, lost its meaning with the passage of time, as a result of reintroducing, in newly composed pieces, the heritage and traditional values. Outstanding Polish critics, in their articles raised the issues of the function of avant-garde art, of its new relation to the listener, of creative experimentation, all of which constitute the category of 'novelty'.