This chapter presents the sources involved in this histoire croisée and introduces its main characters. The prince de Vaudémont plays a complex role not only through his political actions and his patronage, but also via his broad artistic interests. An avid dancer and an inveterate traveler, the prince experienced some of the best of what European music had to offer even before his tenure in Milan, all of which contributed to his activities as a patron, the subject of Chapter 2. This chapter also presents his papers, which serve as the foundation of the narrative. Finally, it follows Vaudémont’s search for, hiring of and arrangements for the travel of, the principal musicians and dancers who would form the core of his personal music in Milan and also his large-scale projects, especially at the Milan opera, the subject of Chapter 3.

The Prince de Vaudémont, “Citizen of the Universe”

Charles-Henri de Lorraine, prince de Vaudémont (Brussels, 1649-Commercy, 1723; Figure 1.1) belonged to the ducal house of Lorraine, which was culturally French but politically independent, acting in effect as a princely entity. The duchy of Lorraine had various cadet branches that included, among others, the Lillebonne and Commercy houses and the duchies of Elboeuf and Guise. The latter played a major role in French politics and in French musical patronage as well, especially in the case of Marie de Lorraine, duchesse de Guise (called “Mademoiselle de Guise”), the employer and patron of Marc-Antoine Charpentier until her death in 1688.

There has been no major modern biography of the prince, probably because of the difficulty of tracing the sources scattered by his largely itinerant life. He was the illegitimate son of Charles IV, duke of Lorraine (1604–75), and Béatrice de Cusance (1614–63). Although later legitimized, Charles-Henri was unable to inherit his father’s duchy, and instead he received the title prince de Vaudémont. Were it not for his diplomatic skills and personal accomplishments, the prince’s fate might have been sealed by the actions of his father, whose political decisions were just as impetuous as those in his personal life. Charles sided with the rebellious Gaston d’Orléans against the French crown and joined the Habsburg side in the many conflicts that dominated the seventeenth century.