Music theory and aesthetics in Descartes' Compendium Musicæ

Abstract

Descartes' Compendium Musicæ comes in the form of a treatise on music theory, where consideration is also given to aesthetic questions, such as the theory of the affects, which is developed in the Treatise on the passions of the soul, a work which looks at each of the affects in the psychological domain. The novelty in Descartes' musical studies was above all his inclusion of music among the sciences of his time, trying to establish relationships between the acoustic of a sound and the psychology of its being heard, or the relationship between geometry as applied to the study of the monochord and musical composition, which seeks to use those intervals that are most agreeable to the ear, avoiding equal temperament. The duality resulting from the difference between perception and the acoustic of the sound is reflected in the theory of the affects, to the extent that the composer sought to model vocal and instrumental sounds to musical expression and to communicability.