Abstract : ( The crisis of musical identity in the Romance world of the 20th century) The 20th century brought profound transformations in the musical identity of the Romance world, marked by tensions between tradition and modernity. Countries such as France, Italy, Spain, and Romania were forced to reconsider their musical values in the context of major European currents and cultural globalization. The identity crisis manifested itself through a rupture between traditional tonal language and new avant-garde forms of expression such as dodecaphony, serialism, and aleatoric music. In France, after the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, composers struggled with German-Austrian influences, searching for a distinct national voice. Italy, after the decline of the verismo opera, attempted to reinvent itself through figures like Luigi Dallapiccola or Luciano Berio, balancing between vocal tradition and experimentation. In Spain, composers such as Manuel de Falla and Joaquín Rodrigo drew on Iberian folklore while embracing European modernism to define their own identity. In Romania, the identity crisis was intensified by external influences and ideological pressures. Romanian composers such as Enescu, Olah, Vieru, and Stroe oscillated between neoclassicism, folklorism, and technical innovation. This quest to balance roots with universality led to a deeply diverse yet often tense musical landscape. The musical identity crisis of the Romance world in the 20th century was not merely aesthetic, but also cultural and political. It reflected the dilemmas of an era in which national values needed to be asserted without falling into isolation, and openness to the new could not come at the cost of losing specificity. This struggle for a coherent musical identity shaped the trajectory of Romance music throughout the century.