Fernando Sor was born on February 14, 1778 in Barcelona, Spain. He was a composer and a guitarist. In Spain he was known as the "Beethoven of the Guitar." Born to a fairly well-off family, Fernando Sor was descended from a long line of career soldiers, and intended to continue that legacy, but was distracted from this when his father introduced him to Italian Opera. He fell in love with music and abandoned a military career. Along with opera, Sor's father also introduced him to the guitar, which, at that time, was little more than an instrument played in taverns, thought to be inferior to orchestral instruments.

He studied music at Santa María de Montserrat where he wrote his ...