Antoine de Lhoyer was one of the most eminent nineteenth-century composers for the guitar, as well as a teacher, professional musician and soldier. His concertante works for two guitars, for which he is now chiefly remembered, are a far cry from the customary sets of variations and collections of romances with guitar accompaniment of the period. The melodic and rhythmic incisiveness of the thematic material, often packed with references to the music of Mozart, the dramatic and almost theatrical dialogue between the two instruments, and the frequent shifts from a simple accompanied melody to a complex contrapuntual texture, provide for music of exceptional variety that has very few equals in early nineteenth-century guitar repertoire.