Home Music Articles Forums Blog Chat More...      

The Queen's Minuet


by

VicDiesel

 Genre: Baroque

Get Flash to see this player.

Description
The old queen is obliged to dance with all the dignitaries that visit her husband, and she likes dancing, but some of them are so clumsy! Then she thinks back to when she was a girl, and her father danced her around the room, carrying her on his shoes.

This piece is another movement in my courtly suite. This one is clearly baroque with no trace of renaissance to it. Ok, the outer parts are the minuet. The middle part in 6/8 is the "reminiscing" part, but what of that cadenza, how does that fit into a dance piece? Well, it is a little known fact that Vogueing was not invented by Madonna but at the French court. In every phrase of the cadenza the dancers strike a pose and freeze in that position for the duration of the phrase. Bet you didn't know that!

This is one of the movements in my Courtly Suite.
Leave a Comment
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
Song Stats
Hits: 1481
Comments: 25
Fans: 13
Plays: 124
Downloads: 79
Votes:
Uploaded: Feb 09, 2008 - 11:42:56 AM
Last Updated: Jun 20, 2008 - 10:34:22 AM Last Played: Nov 06, 2009 - 11:25:50 AM
Song License
Creative Commons License:
Attribution-ShareAlike

Creative Commons

Song Actions
share on facebook share on twitter download song
Hardware:
Kueng Tulipwood alto
Software:
Comments
davisamerica said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
wow vic
this is a surprise from what i have heard from you... a very amazing and pleasant surprise.... most enjoyable
Check out my latest song called No Son(egobandit band)
VicDiesel said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
It's all music
Sometimes I feel like that guy from Quantum Leap. Any next tune will be completely different from the one before. Btw, this piece fits in with a couple of renaissance pieces I already have listed.

Thanks for listening!
Check out my latest song called Pipe Spring at Dusk
said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
gracing the courtile
This reminds me of a trip back in time I once took to see M'Lady of Chassé (south of Lyon). Actually, it was the transplanted St. Joan of Arc Chapel on the campus of Marquette University....and it was not that long ago.

Fine composition. That soloing section...very cool...were they allowed to "get down" like that back then?
VicDiesel said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
Get down with your bad self
Oh, those stuffy courtiers, that's all a front. Man, I'll tell you, they were wild....
Check out my latest song called Pipe Spring at Dusk
Feter said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
The Queen's Minuet
whats brilliant on this piece ..its a live .
no one can say anything about this but fabulous
master piece .thnx for sharin !
aclarke said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
Learning new things
every day at Macjams! This is going to sound corny when I say it, but this is very delightful! Very well played, Vic.

Very, very impressive!


Check out my latest song called Ballad of The Little Tiki
drakonis said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
123 123, or 12 12 12? :-)
Bet you didn't know that that the protective box that the Italian bass recorder players carried their instruments in, the "Case" was called a "Casse" in Italian. Of course, that meant that the smaller alto and tenor recorders had smaller boxes with a different name... you would often see those performers walking around town with their Cass-ette recorders.
(smirk)

Ahem, really wonderful composition here... your upward-sequence caught me a little by surprise (in a nice way), and the cadenza was a delight... man you can play! Great tone, breathing, and recording/mixing too... as always. No critiques here. Love your commentary too.

ttfn,
Drakonis


Check out my latest song called Temporal Tantrum (Sister Savage Mix)
VicDiesel said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
Hold on while I roll up a newspaper
and slap you: "bad pun! bad pun!"

Your commentary as always much appreciated.
Check out my latest song called Pipe Spring at Dusk
jiguma said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
I really like this Vic
Your playing, writing and production sound really good to me. Clean as a whistle, and beautiful to boot.
Neil
Check out my latest song called Under My Skin
Ibstrat said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
Amazingly
well written and played.That recorder sounds beautiful.Was that cadenza partly improvised or written out?Just great.
Check out my latest song called Blues in Bm
VicDiesel said 638 days ago (February 9th, 2008)
Both, actually
This piece, as well as my two renaissance recorder pieces, are written out improvisations. I open the microphone and just play for a while. Then I sort out what bits I like and where I need a bridge, or where something feels like it leads to something else. Then I play those missing bits.

And then I write out what I've actually done and rerecord phrases where necessary. So that solo cadenza was as much improvised as the rest of the melody, but now it's immortalized on paper. (And it took a couple of takes to get it to sound clean.) The scores to these recorder pieces, btw, can be downloaded from the Werner Icking music archive.

Thanks for the compliments.


Check out my latest song called Pipe Spring at Dusk
Doug Somers said 638 days ago (February 10th, 2008)
Takes me back
Not to the baroque time but music class. :) Seriously, first rate work Vic. And the mix is so clean. Very enjoyable piece.

Cheers,
Doug
Check out my latest song called Desiree (MJ Space Race 2009)
echoroom said 638 days ago (February 10th, 2008)
What a surprise
Great playing and a very playful tune. This is really lovely. The reverbs on this are sweet!

s
Check out my latest song called Deeper (w/t Racerat)
woofer3 said 638 days ago (February 10th, 2008)
wait a minuet -
Baroque is my favourite music I think. Lovely composition. Excellent work. Oh by the way , love the name - Vic Diesel- well Vic, regarding your improvisations -deisel do for me nicely thank you, -ooh ouch!

Best wishes,

John.
Check out my latest song called coalhouse blues
pablatone said 637 days ago (February 10th, 2008)
Dang Vic!
This is incredible. What a hoot it must be to be able to play like that. I love the recorder, it's one of my favorite tones. Good job, and thank you for the down load.
Check out my latest song called I got a gal
lupiroz said 637 days ago (February 11th, 2008)
Great quality recording,
nice and pleasant composition, enjoyed it a lot that is reall good considering that I listen to this kind of music very seldom; your skills on playing these instruments are immediately evident!
Check out my latest song called Just an ordinary man
guitapick said 636 days ago (February 11th, 2008)
Uh...
...I knew that...

;)

Cool description...but not as cool as the piece and playing...I love this music and you play it so well...
Check out my latest song called Outside the Corral
said 636 days ago (February 12th, 2008)
Wow
Great to hear such music... Thumbs up....
thetiler said 636 days ago (February 12th, 2008)
Enjoy vic
that you take care and put up nice pictures. It really does make a difference but of course what would pics be without terrific music. This is very nice to hear and love how it picks me up into a happy mood. Though I was not in a bad mood before, but it really has a past historical feel and a very happy one at that.

Nice transition into the section were it goes a tad slower but the long extended flute sounds are enjoyable in that section. This really sounds delightful in every way. A great listen I think. One that I am very glad I stopped by. Plus the third section really is quite creative, and really gathers steam like one is trying go up a musical hill and finally makes it. The flute plays a very nice with the harpsichord in that last section.

Like that ending as well!!
Impressed

Way to go Vic!!
Check out my latest song called The Bluebird Cafe (with two other guest)
said 635 days ago (February 12th, 2008)
WOW!!


Hi

Your sound put me in heaven what a beautiful sweet melody and I loved the flute too. just simply wonderful and now
I too am in the queens court also dancing and swirling in the queens magnificent ballroom in absolute bliss.
Thank you so much for sharing this.

Peace

Dee.
ceilidh said 629 days ago (February 19th, 2008)
Vic
wonderful.....
is there anything more wonderful then a sound of a recorder?
wonderful again!
P.
Check out my latest song called Gartan Mother's Lullaby
Cameron said 628 days ago (February 19th, 2008)
fresh!
My partner James is very hard to please with recorder music, and he LIKES this piece! And so do I.

The style of this piece is baroque, but you give it a fresh new twist. Unexpected chord progressions in the harpsichord and "accidentals" in the recorder infuse this music with a sense of quirkiness; it grabs your attention!

Wonderful recorder playing, as always. Your cadenza shows off your tone and technique to excellent advantage.

It just so happens that James' and my interest in the recorder has increased signficantly in recent days. How appropriate to listen to this very imaginative and well-executed recorder piece at this time!
Check out my latest song called EPONYM
Heightened said 626 days ago (February 21st, 2008)
Wow, this is super cool!
Wouldn't mind more of this! Sure can play that thing too!
Check out my latest song called A Journey Through Starburst Galaxy M82
John Stebbe said 504 days ago (June 23rd, 2008)
Music School
I went to music school, but you are more skilled that I at the things which set Baroque music apart from Renaissance. It all sounds good to me!

I would not be surprised if you had some sort of part-time job going around to elementary schools, in costume, performing your stuff in costume. We have a group in Indy called "Young Audiences" that handles artists like that, for school performances. You would be a natural. (Correction -- you ARE a natural!)

You must play other woodwinds besides recorder, right? Nobody plays recorder that well without also playing flute, sax, etc?
Check out my latest song called NECAP Test song
VicDiesel said 504 days ago (June 23rd, 2008)
Recorder in school
Your background is showing: you probably teach recorder as a "pre-band" instrument. While I have played flute (and was fairly good at it) this is 2 decades in the past. Recorder is my main woodwind, and by far my best instrument. There really are people who stick with the instrument and have it as their prime interest.

I am in fact in a group here in town "Passing Measures" that occasionally performs in costume, but we don't do the school circuit. Might be fun though.

Thanks for the compliments. This piece is definitely baroque rather than renaissance, in its complexity, virtuosity, and general elaborateness. In my "courtly suite" this will be the showpiece, other movements should be simpler.
Check out my latest song called Pipe Spring at Dusk
Artist Info
artist photo
Name: Victor
send a note
In past lives, VicDiesel was a country fiddler, a shawm player at the Burgundy court, bellows pumper for JS Bach, Geoff Emerick's factotum, and a beggar playing drums in the streets of Calcutta for alms. Unusually, the memories of all that come... [see more]

Check out some of my other songs:

Chat
Who's Online
52tuneUS
20US
66tuneUS
43US
22US
3tuneUS
1tuneCa
Invisible Members: 4
Visitors: 67