DESCRIPTION:
A musical biography of Catherine de Medici, leader of France in Civilization 6, set to saxophone covers of France's Civ 6 theme.

The music of Civilization VI does not disappoint, with pieces crafted by Roland Rizzo from the histories and cultures of the various civilizations. France's theme is the Tourdion, a style of music and dance named after the French verb "to twist". More specifically, the Tourdion of Civ VI is likely based on Pierre Attaingnant's "Quand je bois du vin clairet." (EDIT: this description originally attributed Civilization's arrangement of France's theme to Geoff Knorr. Thanks to Geoff, I have now learned Roland Rizzo prepared the arrangements for France's themes.)

If you listen to the original (which is covered first in this video, and is arranged most similarly to France's Ancient and Medieval era themes), you will note that the tourdion is a joyous piece of music (and the lyrics definitely mark this as a drinking song.) However, over the course of a game of Civ 6, the Tourdion becomes decidedly more sombre. What is the reasoning for this?

The life of the French leader in Civilization 6, Catherine de Medici, may allow us to understand better. Though born in the influential Florentine Medici family, Catherine's life had plenty of tragic twists. Her parents died before she was even one month old; her childhood featured her shuffled from relative to relative and then from convent to convent, with the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor wishing to kill her.

Even when she wed the prince of France (a remarkable match to her as she was not royal), her husband the prince openly took another woman, Diane de Poitiers, as mistress.

I can definitely say I never expected to see historical biographical articles in a journal about urology, but this project took me down that path. Catherine struggled for 10 years to produce an heir, and many assumed her to be infertile. She experimented with some pretty crazy folk remedies to try to become pregnant. But what's interesting is how everyone assumed she would be infertile, when her husband had a dubious history with impregnating women (although he did claim one illegitimate child to stave off suspicion.) In particular, though he had regular dalliances with Diane de Poitiers, she never became pregnant.

While some called for the prince to abandon Catherine, one of Catherine's biggest supporters was Diane. She knew that Catherine's difficulties were not her own troubles, having slept with the prince herself. She insisted that the prince not leave Catherine, and also insisted that he sleep with Catherine nightly. Catherine poked a hole to watch Diane and the prince have sex (!!!), to see if she could do something differently. Diane helpfully advised that the two should have sex "a levrette" (which is just such a fancier way of saying "doggy style").

What was Diane's deal? Well, she knew that as long as Catherine was queen, she had nothing to fear politically, so she needed her to stay. She also knew what a doctor would later discover: the prince had certain physical deformities that likely prevented him from shooting straight. The doctor recommended changes, and Catherine would have 10 children with the prince.

Catherine's political power was marked by her ability to rule through the management of relationships -- especially of her ladies-in-waiting, the "Flying Squadron." She would often include political or personal opposition in her squadron (such as Francoise de Breze, who was Diane's daughter...and the wives of prominent Protestant leaders.) This is another area where libel spread about Catherine, however. Some suggested that Catherine's Flying Squadron was explicitly chosen to seduce men for political intrigue. Una McInvenna addresses the history of this slander in "A Stable of Whores? The Flying Squadron of Catherine de Medici".

And we haven't even gotten to the wars of religion!

Song: France's Atomic Era Tourdion (based on Quand je bois du vin clairet)
Game: Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Composer: Roland Rizzo (based on original by Pierre Attaingnant)

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EQUIPMENT (it doesn't require the best!)
Instrument: Conn 24M Alto Saxophone
Mouthpiece: JodyJazz HR 6M
Ligature: Rovner C1RL MK III
Reed: Vandoren Java 2

Mic: Blue Yeti
Camera: Canon EOS SL1/100D

DAW: Reaper
Video Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC
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