Louis XIV had Lully, but did the others?

[Henri De Ceredigion]

I am fully aware that Jean Baptiste-Lully (him of clonking his foot with his conducting stick, contracting gangrene and dying fame) was the person in charge of music in the court of Louis XIV but would like to know whether this was a new appointment (perhaps by Louis fancying him as suggestions abound that Lully was gay) or was he the latest in a long line? And if it is the latter, who preceded him?

[Mantua]

The role of composer of instrumental music was an existing one. The previous holder was Lazarin (Lazzarini), an Italian violinist. Lully had previously been in the service of Mlle de Montpensier, the King's cousin. She was disgraced due to her involvement in the Fronde and after the death of his friend Lazzarini in 1653, Lully was appointed ''compositeur de la musique instrumentale de Roi'.

There is no historical foundation whatsoever in the rumours. Louis never had a homosexual relationship with Lully and they were only ever friendly in the straight sense, as far as a king and a composer could be in C17 France. In 1653 Louis was only 15 anyway, and in thrall to his mother and Cardinal Mazarin. Lully had extramarital relations with both men and women. The increasingly open nature of these encounters eventually earned him a reprimand from the King. Despite the dodgy myths promoted by purveyors of salacious tosh, Louis was emphatically not gay. His brother Philippe, on the other hand....