Johann Kaspar Mertz was born in 1806 Pressburg, the Hungarian Pozsony, now the Slovakian capital, Bratislava. He learned the guitar and flute. Little is known of his early life but by 1840 he was esta...

Napoléon Coste was born in 1806 in Amondans, France. He began his guitar studies under his mother’s tuition, who was an accomplished player. As a teenager he quickly became familiar with the instrume...