Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) Aside from Fernando Sor, Giuliani is reckoned as the other leading guitar virtuoso of the 19th century. Mauro Giuliani, one of the greatest exponents of the Nineteenth Century guitar, a first rank virtuoso and a great composer for guitar, was born in Bisceglie, on July 27, 1781. While still a child he began the study of harmony and composed some works of liturgical character. His center of studywas in Barletta, where he moved, together with his brother Nicola, in the first years of his life.

His first instrumental training was on the cello, an instrument that he never abandoned completely during his life. He probably also studied the violin.

Subsequently he devoted himself to the guitar, becoming a very skilled performer on it in a short time. His teachers are unknown, nor do we know his exact movements in Italy.

He married Maria Giuseppe del Monaco, and they had a child, Michael, born in Barletta in 1801. After that he was probably in Bologna Trieste for a brief stay; by the summer of 1806, fresh from his studies of counterpoint, cello and guitar in Italy, he had moved to Vienna without his family. Here he began a relationship with a certain Fr