CORBETTA, FRANCESCO  

With a reputation as one of the leading guitarists of his time, the Italian composer Francesco Corbetta was taken to Paris by Cardinal Mazarin, becoming guitar teacher to Louis XIV, and subsequently to Charles II, after the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. Returning to Paris, he taught the Dauphin. He dedicated a collection of guitar music, under the title La guitarre royale, to Charles II, and a further volume, under the same title, to Louis XIV.