I've rarely had so much fun or gotten so much satisfaction from a fandom project.  I know that sounds odd, perhaps, but those of you who have followed the amazing Stargate Renaissance AU will probably understand that it tends to inspire above and beyond typical fan fiction.  One day I was listening to a track on the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack and I longed so terribly to make a Renaissance John/Elizabeth vid to it.

Unfortunately, as much as we would love there to be, there is just no footage for the AU.  I think, ultimately, the idea of doing this soundtrack was indirectly born of that lack.  It was the closest I could come.  

Ironically, the track I'm speaking of was one of the first of many suggestions that Mel shot down as being included on the mix.  The experience has proven to be, at times, a comically painstaking test of our patience with each other.  But looking back I have to say that it was worth it.  For one thing I can honestly say that the myriad of vetoed tracks were just as enjoyable as the ones that made the cut, because we shared a whole lot of music, each of us making exciting new discoveries into one another's collections and having some really memorable discussions about music in general.  

And in a world where conversation and culture seem to be slowly fading away, that's worth quite a lot, wouldn't you say?  I know the end result is something we're both going to treasure forever, and I sincerely hope that all the rest of you are equally as inspired.

~ Saché


I'm Type A. I mean, classically, perfectly, case-study Type A. I have to admit that this is probably why I more or less invited myself into this project. I also have one of the strangest music collections you're likely ever to encounter, and the presence of pre-Baroque music among my stacks of CDs was another reason.

As Saché mentioned, the experience of putting this collection together has been remarkable for several reasons. As the internet goes we're old friends, but even now we still can't entirely guess each other's taste in music, something Saché has found monumentally frustrating over the years, I think. When she sent me the Fauré "Pavane" that appears in this, she had no intention of it being in this collection and wasn't even sure I'd like it, but it got under my skin like nothing else she'd sent me before. There was also the classic divide between author and reader – what did I as one of the authors intend, and what did she as one of the readers take away?

There were more late nights than I'd like to admit, several moments where I happened upon CDs I hadn't listened to in years, and many a case of "I like it but it's just not quite right" – from both of us, I'd like to point out. We cut things we liked and a lot of things were shelved till next time. Here's hoping we remember what they were when next time rolls around.

Despite my overwhelming Type A-ness, the following is not a collection entirely of period music. Instead, we have blended music from a variety of sources, including movie soundtracks, nineteenth- and twentieth-century compositions, and Renaissance music. Our goal here is to provide a collection that complements the stories told in the series, as well as something enjoyable to those who weren't in a madrigal troupe (her) and those who were (me). ;)

Thank you to all those reading the series – you've been more than we ever hoped for. Happy holidays, and enjoy the music.

~Mel

Arise, awake, awake, awake, you silly shepherds sleeping,
Devise, some honour for her sake to banish weeping, by mirth to banish weeping,
Lo, where she comes, she comes in gaudy green arraying,
A Prince, of beauty rich and rare, for her delighting,
Pretends to go a-Maying,
You stately Nymphs draw near, and strew your paths with Roses,
In you her trust reposes,
Then sang the shepherds and Nymphs of Diana,
Long live fair Oriana.

Just as the first story of the AU had to set the tone for the series to follow, the first selections for this collection reflect what we've attempted to do here. Included here is John's arrival on the coast of Atalan, his journey to Atlantis, Elizabeth's first appearance in the story, and her coronation. We also include a taste of music of the Renaissance in the epitome of Elizabethan music – the madrigal.

On a fair morning as I came by the way,
Met I with a merry maid in the merry month of May,
When a sweet love sings his lovely, lovely lay,
And every bird upon the bush bechirps it up so gay.
With an heave and ho, with an heave and ho,
Thy wife shall be thy master, I trow.
Sing care away, care away, let the world go!
Hey, lustily, all in a row, all in a row,
Sing care away, care away, let the world go!

Two major things are happening in Friend or Foe, both of which are represented in our selections. The first is Elizabeth's push to rebuild Atalan's navy following a horrific Wraith attack on a coastal village. The morning jaunt on the Queen Margaret is included here, along with a delightful madrigal that reminded Sach of one of her favorite Laura moments, when Jack has to pull Laura down from the rigging of the ship.

The second important part of this story is the revelation of John's history, which the minstrel Jonas Quinn confirms by playing a Caldoran love song in the court. For this we have selected a ballad by the sixteenth-century composer Robert Johnson, whose father served in the court of Elizabeth I, and who himself served in the court of James I.

The nightingale, the organ of delight,
The nimble lark, the blackbird, and the thrush,
And all the pretty quiristers of flight,
That chant their music notes in every bush,
Let them no more contend who shall excel;
The cuckoo is the bird that bears the bell.

Have you seen but a bright lily grow
Before rude hands have touched it?
Have you marked but the fall of snow
Before the soil hath smutched it?
Have you felt the wool of beaver,
Or swan's down ever?
Or have smelt o' the bud o' the brier,
Or the nard in the fire?
Or have tasted the bag of the bee?
O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she!

When we started this project, Mel tried to put her foot down on including too much Loreena McKennitt, the byproduct of having had a roommate who played "The Highwayman" incessantly. But "The Lark in the Clear Air" combines two of her favorite instruments, and has the sweetness of Laura and Carson's reconciliation at the end of Uncharted Shores.

Of course, Laura and Carson were not the only characters canoodling by the end of the story. James Newton Howard's compositions for The Village are at once intimate and intense, two words which perfectly describe Marcus and Kate's encounter in Athos.

The same composer's work for Lady in the Water provides the underscore for John and Elizabeth's reconciliation at the end of the story, and introduces some musical ideas that resurface later in the collection.

The first suggestion Sach made for this project that actually stuck is "Fine Knacks for Ladies", which we've included as a nod to the gift exchange near the end of this story. The album it comes from, Sting's Songs from the Labyrinth, has served in many respects as an inspiration point for Mel while working on the series in general, and was our first source of period music for this collection.

Along with "Fine Knacks" we've included a lute piece from the same album (with a fabulously long name that neither of us can ever remember) and a madrigal which Sach found appropriate for a bonfire. Finishing off this story is "Someone to Trust" from the third season of Battlestar Galactica, which Mel watches even when it's frustrating and Sach follows mostly for the music.

Fine knacks for ladies, cheap, choice, brave and new,
Good pennyworths but money cannot move,
I keep a fair but for the fair to view,
A beggar may be liberal of love.
Though all my wares be trash, the heart is true.

Great gifts are guiles and look for gifts again,
My trifles come as treasures from my mind,
It is a precious jewel to be plain,
Sometimes in shell the Orient's pearls we find.
Of others take a sheaf, of me a grain.

Within this pack pins, points, laces and gloves,
And divers toys fitting a country fair,
But in my heart, where duty serves and loves,
Turtles and twins, Court's brood, a heav'nly pair.
Happy the man that thinks of no removes.

Strike it up, Tabor,
And pipe us a favour!
Thou shalt be well paid for thy labour.
I mean to sell my shoe sole
To dance about the May pole.
I will be blithe and brisk,
Leap and skip,
Hop and trip.
Turn about
In the rout,
Until very weary joints can scarce frisk.

Lusty Dick Hopkin
Lay on with thy napkin,
The stitching cost be but a dodkin.
The Morris were half undone
Were't not for Martin of Compton.
O well said, jigging Alice!
Pretty Jill,
Stand you still!
Dapper Jack
Means to smack.
How now, fie, fie, fie! you dance false.

While we were combing through movie soundtracks, Sach pulled out the soundtrack of Emma. Most of it was entirely unsuited to the task at hand, but one track was more or less what you would get if you could turn Rodney McKay and Sam Carter into music.

This turned out to be one of the more difficult stories to find music for, which is fitting considering how it was written. At first the story centered almost exclusively on Sarah Gardner and Jack O'Neill, but when Mel wrote the final scene, an entire subplot concerning a crucial point in John and Elizabeth's relationship begged to be written.

Here we have Gabriel Fauré's Pavane in F-sharp Minor, and another selection from James Newton Howard's score of Lady in the Water.

So much is happening in The Wedding that it's difficult to narrow it down to just a few tracks, especially given the importance of some of the events.

From Master and Commander we have the christening of the first ships of Elizabeth's navy. Again, Bear McCreary's score of Battlestar Galactica, this time from the first season, gives us the arrival of the Caldoran delegation. Finally, a certain significant kiss comes from Lady in the Water.

Early on in the project, Sach decided we needed a concluding song for the collection, something that would sum up the first season of the AU while also leaving the door open for what's to come in the second. It was a tall order, and this, Vienna Teng's "Eric's Song", was one of those strokes of accidental brilliance at midnight. Fortunately for us, it still worked the next day.

Strange how you know inside me
I measure the time and I stand amazed
Strange how I know inside you
My hand is outstretched toward the damp of the haze

And of course I forgive
I've seen how you live
Like a phoenix you rise from the ashes
You pick up the pieces
And the ghosts in the attic
They never quite leave
And of course I forgive
You've seen how I live
I've got darkness and fears to appease
My voices and analogies
Ambitions like ribbons
Worn bright on my sleeve

Strange how we know each other

Strange how I fit into you
There's a distance erased with the greatest of ease
Strange how you fit into me
A gentle warmth filling the deepest of needs

And with each passing day
The stories we say
Draw us tighter into our addiction
Confirm our conviction
That some kind of miracle
Passed on our heads
And how I am sure
Like never before
Of my reasons for defying reason
Embracing the seasons
We dance through the colors
Both followed and led

Strange how we fit each other

Strange how certain the journey
Time unfolds the petals
For our eyes to see
Strange how this journey's hurting
In ways we accept as part of fate's decree

So we just hold on fast
Acknowledge the past
As lessons exquisitely crafted
Painstakingly drafted
To carve ourselves instruments
That play the music of life
For we don't realize
Our faith in the prize
Unless it's been somehow elusive
How swiftly we choose it
The sacred simplicity
Of you at my side