Alicja Jarzębska, is a full professor at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, specializing in music history and theory. She has lectured at instituitions such as the State University of New York, Universität Regensburg, Universität Salzburg, and Kamensky University in Bratislava. She has conducted a series of lectures at the University of Poznań, the Academy of Music in Cracow, and the University of Music in Warsaw. She is the author of several books, including Stravinsky. His Thoughts and Music (2020).

• Introduction – Part I. Towards modernity – 1. In the shadow of Wagner and Nietzsche – 2. The ideas of pantheism, theosophy and futurism and their resonance in the art of musical composition – 3. Interest in non- European and old pagan cultures – 4. The controversial idea of national music – Part II. The height of modernity – 5. The dispute over the aesthetics of modern music – 6. The dispute over ‘unity in variety’ in the art of composition and the notion of progress – 7. Avant- garde ideas of serialism, aleatorism and sonorism – 8. The Cold War in musical culture, the yearning for beauty and the joy of making music – Part III. In the fetters of late modernity – 9. The decline of the idea of progress and the search for new creative ideas – 10. Liberation from the pressure of the avant- garde: postmodern games with tradition, the ‘musical ark’ and the biblical world in music – 11. ‘Eternal’ classicism and existential dilemmas in music – List of examples – Selected bibliography – Index