Extended Soundtrack for RFC Europe 2.0

[Publicola]

I love this mod, and especially love its music. So when I started teaching a class on medieval literature earlier this year, I recommended this mod to my students, both for the sake of learning European history but especially for the sake of the songs it features.

This weekend, to make life easier for them, I decided to compile a playlist of the game's soundtrack.

Then I decided to expand that playlist, by including all of the medieval music featured in the base game, as well the Eastern Orthodox tracks on the 'Sword of Islam' playlist. This is the result.

Civ IV - Medieval Music collection

Spoiler Track List :

CIVILIZATION IV soundtrack:
"Miserere" (Have Mercy),
"Ay santa Maria" (O Holy Mary),
"La luna te guarda" (Behold the Moon)
"Missa et ecca terrae motus: Gloria" (Earthquake Mass: Glory),
"Deus, judex justus" (God our Just Judge),
"Laudate Deum" (Give Praise to God),
"Regem cui omnia vivunt" (King of All the Living),
"Danza alta, sobra 'la Spagna'" (High Dance based on the theme 'Spain'),
"El grillo" (The Cricket),
"O mors inevitabilis" (O Inescapable Death),
"Alma redemptoris mater" (Loving Mother of our Savior),
"Intemerata Dei mater" (Virgin Mother of God),
"Requiem: Kyrie" (Mass for the Dead: Have Mercy),
"Recercada tercera" (Variations, No. 3),
"Missa Papae Marcelli: Gloria" (Pope Marcellus Mass: Glory),
"Missa Papae Marcelli: Credo" (Pope Marcellus Mass: I Believe),
"Terpsichore: Ballet du Roy" (Dances from Terpsichore: Royal Ballet),
"Terpsichore: Bransle (Dances from Terpsichore: Bransle),
"Terpsichore: Volte" (Dances from Terpsichore: Lavolta),
"Media vita in morte sumus" (In the Midst of Life)

RFC EUROPE mod soundtrack:
"Ot koga se, mila moya mayno lyo" (Since Break of Dawn),
"Bogorodice djevo" (O Virgin Mother of God),
"Rosa das rosas: Prologo" (Rose of Roses: Prologue),
"Dum Pater familias" (When God the Father),
"Introit: Benedicta sit" (Entrance: Blessed Be),
"Propiñán de melyor",
"Quen quér que ten en Desdên",
"Dindiridin" (I Arose One Day),
"Nevestinko oro" (O Unfortunate Soul),
"Skarazula marazula" (folk dance from Friuli),
"Douce Dame jolie" (O Sweet Lovely Lady),
"Ólafur liljurós" (Olaf Rode Along),
"Quen a Virgen ben servirá" (He Who Heeds the Virgin),
"Bailemos nos ja todas tres" (We Three Friends Dance Together),
"Anni novi novitas" (Newness of a New Year),
"Conditor alme siderum" (Creator of the Stars of Night),
"Martin jograr" (Martin the Minstrel),
"Saltarello" (court dance from Naples),
"Mia irmana fremosa" (My Beautiful Sister),
"Jay grant espoir" (I Greatly Hope),
"Eno sagrado en Vigo" (On Sacred Ground in Vigo),
"Robin Hood and the Tanner",
"Pax aeterna" (Peace Everlasting),
"Polorum regina" (Queen of Heaven)

RFC SWORD OF ISLAM mod soundtrack:
"I zoi en tafo" (Life in the Tomb),
"Troparion" (Hymn of the Nativity),
"Kapuit manushak" (Blue Violet),
"Salve regina" (Hail Holy Queen)

Spoiler Caveats :

Each of these tracks are the same artist and same recording as what appears in the game. There are a two exceptions -- "Mia irmana fremosa" should be the version performed by the Dufay Collective, and "Polorum regina" should be by St. George's Canzona -- though in each case I tried to find another performance that most resembles them. I don't believe the the mod's versions of those two songs are even on YouTube, though I will add them to the playlist if someone else points them out.

In the course of searching for these tracks, I encountered so many other pieces of medieval and Renaissance music that really felt like they belonged in the mod. I will post a separate playlist of those songs for your consideration (once I get around to putting it together).

However, I'd like to start the conversation, of what the soundtrack for RFC Europe 2.0 should look like. What songs should we add to the soundtrack? Are there any songs from the base game or SoI that we should bring into the mod? On the other side of the ledger, what songs do you want to see gone? Do any of them distract you from the game, or grate on your nerves, or something else? What changes should we make?

 

[Publicola]

A big part of upgrading the mod's music should connect to upgrading the selections for Diplomacy. Most of the tracks listed under "Assets > Sounds > Diplomacy" are unlabeled and unorganized, so I'd really like to get them back in some semblance of order.

I'm having some trouble getting the table set up, but once it works, I will try to make a list of every civ and every leader in the game, and showing what track currently plays over the Diplomacy screen. I will keep the list updated whenever people are able to identify one of those tracks, providing the name and link to the original piece of music. Finally, I will also provide a space for recommending new or alternate tracks for Diplomacy in RFCE 2.0.

EDIT: per an administrator,

Yeah, tables no longer work. We are yet to create Custom BBCode to resolve the issue.

So this part will have to wait until then.


I would like to open the floor to those recommendations now. I'll start off:

• If we ever add RFCE++'s Bohemia civ to the official mod, I'd propose that we use "Má vlast" by Bedrich Smetana for the Diplomacy music
• I'd like to use one of the French overtures by Jean-Baptiste Lully as the music for late-era France
• We might use Handel's "Water Music" or "Music for the Royal Fireworks", or perhaps one of Henry Purcell's dances for late-era England.
• We should use Edvard Grieg for mid- and late-game Norway. Specifically I was thinking of his "In the Hall of the Mountain King" -- it doesn't fit the Viking era, but dang.

 

[Publicola]

Reserved (for playlist of recommendations)

 

[AbsintheRed]

Wonderful, thank you!

 

[AtlantaMarty]

How about this? A guitar-based arrangement was used in Civ III, but I thought this arrangement would fit better with the other music in RFCE

You'll also find a bunch of other Landini music in the suggested videos, I would suggest using most if not all of it, it's really good and captures the spirit of Medieval Europe perfectly

 

[AtlantaMarty]

Wonderful, thank you!

How about using viola de gamba music in the later game (maybe from about 1450-1750)