Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681)

The Art of Baroque Guitar

Transcribed for guitar by Jacopo Gianninoto

Published by Assumption University of Thailand

Francesco Corbetta, the greatest guitarist and composer for guitar of the Seventeenth century, was born in Pavia in 1615. He was famous as a virtuoso in most European courts, and spent his life travelling from one court to the next.
He published his first work in Bologna, Italy, and was a member of the “Accademia degli Erranti,” in Brescia, under the pseudonym of Capriccioso, and the motto “Sembra capriccio ma ne trago il vero” (It might look like a whim, but my pursuit is truth). He dedicated his book “Varii Capricii per la ghittara spagnuola” – from whence many of the pieces herein contained are taken – to Carlo II Gonzaga, which proves that he was also active in the duchy of Mantua.
In 1648 he published in Bruxelles “Varii Scherzi di Sonate per la Chitara Spagnola”, dedicated to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria; afterwards, we know of his travels to Spain and Germany, where he dedicated a book to “Serenissimo Georgo Guglielmo Duca di Bronsvich e Luneburg” (His Excellency George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg).
He lived in London between 1659 and 1679, when he was invited to Paris at the Court of Louis XIV, to whom he dedicated “La Guitarre Royale”. He spent the rest of his life working as a virtuoso for French and English courts, and died in Paris in 1681. [...]