Cole Cuchna

A song that continues the exploratory, space-like journey while leaning more heavily into the Baroque sound that Voyager hints at.

Verdi's Quill begins by establishing its central musical theme, a fluttering, sequential passage that draws directly from Baroque music, the 17th century European genre we discussed back on Aerodynamics Outro.

While the track does not contain any direct samples, there's a few possible inspiration points, starting with a famous piece written back in 1720 by Baroque composer George Friedrich Handel.

In this piano arrangement of Handel's piece, the opening melodic passage resembles Verdi's Quo's theme.

Here's just the right hand in isolation.

It's not an exact match, but both riffs use the same compositional framework.

There's a repeating high note,

and beneath this there is a descending line that climbs down the scale.

The main difference between the two is the rhythm.

Handel's is straight eighth notes, while Daft Punk's is slightly more complex.

But there is an even closer match to Verdi's Quo than Handel, and it's found in the music of Azerbaijani composer Iman Sabi Tolu.

Written in 1971, this piece, One Evening in a Taxi, features a similar compositional structure to both Handel and Daft Punk, with repeating high notes set against a descending line beneath them.

Rhythmically, it's an even closer match to Veritas Quo, and its 1971 release aligns with Discovery's broader tendency to draw from music of the 70s.

With that said, to my knowledge Daft Punk have never referenced this piece directly, so any connection remains speculative.

What does seem clear to me, however, is that Iman Sabitoglu's composition was itself influenced by Handel, and whether Daft Punk drew from one or the other, the key takeaway is that Verdi's Quo's theme is rooted in Baroque music, which they clearly play into by giving the melody to a synth modeled after a flute and chords to a synth modeled after a pipe organ.

Now what Daft Punk did to develop this theme is really, really cool.

As we heard, the song's intro establishes the theme with a supporting chord sequence.

Rhythmically, the chords appear to be pretty straightforward, simply playing on the downbeats.

1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3, 4.