Mauro Guiliani was a master composer for the guitar. He played the violin, flute, and guitar. The guitar became his primary instrument and his main devotion. He was considered a virtuoso by the age of twenty.

Guiliani's 1800 tour of Europe escalated his already virtuoso status in his native country of Italy. Guiliani settled in Vienna in 1806, which was becoming one of the greatest musical centers in all of Europe.

Mauro Guiliani was in Vienna during the classical period. He would have heard the music of Haydn, Mozart, Gluck, and Beethoven. Beethoven's Eroica Symphony had just debuted in 1803.

While in Vienna, Guiliani was appointed chamber musician and teacher to the Austrian royal family, who frequently studied guitar with him. Guiliani's work ranged from the simplest exercises to the most technically challenging pieces. There are concertos with duets for violin and duets for flute and guitar.