Music and Time Annotation << Back Musical Style and its Understanding by Contemporary Composers: Some Observations N.P. Ruchkina The article is devoted to the study of the evolution of ideas about musical style in the XX and the beginning of XXI centuries. Stylistic pluralism of the last quarter of the twentieth century leads to aesthetic principles, which declare a complete rejection of artistic traditions and the destruction of boundaries for creative expression. In terms of stylistic synthesis personal style ceases to be something that can differentiate one composer from another, because the author refused the concept of inventing a material. In this article referring to the reflection of many famous contemporary composers , author tried to answer two questions – is it possible to have personal style nowadays, and how composer’s personality, which is not always can be different from the others, could be determined. Keywords: music style, personal style, musical language, polystylistic, intertextuality, «death of author», individual gesture. Contacts: E-mail: n.ruchkina@mail.ru Pp. 47-53.