Lully: Music to Moliere Plays - Austrian Tonkunstler Orchestra

Jean Baptise Lully Music to Moliere Plays liner notes

Like that of Paganini -- another Italian musician who lived in France -- the life-story of Jean-Baptiste Lully is spiced with numerous anecdotes, mostly apocryphal, which have not only confused his biography but also tend to obscure his importance as a musician. There is the story of his noble birth -- totally untrue; the young French King's magical discovery of his violin playing in the kitchen, and his subsequent rapid elevation to high musical posts -- at least doubtful; his death from a foot infection caused by an injury from the long baton then used by conductors -- never really established; and his introduction of the Italian style to France from his native country -- certainly misunderstood. This much is true: Lully was born in Florence, the son of poor parents. When he was about 12, the Chevalier de Guise took him to France to be a page in his niece's household. There he found his way into the Princess's band and began to perfect his violin playing. Somehow he established contact with Louis XIV, who first engaged him for his famous orchestra of "Twenty-four Violins" and then formed a special band, “Les Petits-Violons", for Lully' s exclusive use. From this time on, Lully spent the rest of his life at court in various high posts. He was sometimes more in favor and sometimes less, but basically he remained a permanent royal favorite.