Is notational “fingerprint” still possible? A few comments on the idiomaticity of the 20th-century notation

Abstract The discussion started by the author will be restricted to the Polish compositional output of the second half of the 20th century, with the subject matter covering the idiomaticity of notation as a consequence of modifications arising from the introduction of new compositional techniques and authors’ original formal solutions. The “fingerprint” in the title of the article encompasses not only individual features of notation, in the form of a specific font or shape of particular elements of the notational system, but also solutions of a systemic nature, allowing to copy the texture or form of a composition in a concise manner. The idiomaticity of notation also means visual attractiveness of scores, created under the influence of avant-garde trends in the time when originality in that respect was not limited yet, or even eliminated, by widespread and unifying notation of music notation processors. An additional motivator behind this attempt to characterize the phenomenon was a need for a nostalgic comeback to the decades when the only limitation regarding notation were the limits of a composer’s imagination, and published scores (mainly in the form of facsimiles) bore the composer’s distinctive fingerprint.