Sintomas do Porvir: o Compendium Musicae de Descartes entre o Renascimento e o Barroco

The paper aims to establish an interpretation of the ideas presented by Descartes in his Compendium Musicae as expressive of the transition between the Renaissance and Baroque periods in music. It starts with a comparative analysis of the music of these two periods, as well as some philosophical and scientific ideas that surrounded the transition between them, and seeks to identify ideas linked to both in the Compendium. According to the results of this analysis, it is argued that, if from the viewpoint of musical theory and practice, the work is still linked to the Renaissance style, regarding the philosophical and scientifiic background, it presents ideas commonly associated with the Baroque.