Rene Descartes's Compendium musicAe was one of the most widely-read
texts on the mathematics of music in the second half of the seventeenth
century, offering a succinct and lucid summary of its subject. It was
translated into English, French and Dutch before the end of the
century--though its idiosyncratic geometrical approach to music drew
criticism as well as praise--and its sophisticated mathematical thinking
attracted a number of later scholars to explore its ideas further in
print or manuscript. This volume presents for the first time a critical
edition of the English translation of the Compendium, published in 1653
by the natural philosopher Walter Charleton. Also included are the
unpublished manuscript treatises written by Nicolaus Mercator and Isaac
Newton developing similar ideas to those in the Compendium, and the
printed remarks of William Brouncker which appeared with Charleton's
translation. This rich collection of texts, most of them appearing in
critical editions for the first time, provides a unique view of the
early reception of Descartes's musical treatise in England.