Corbetta spent his early career in Italy. He seems to have worked as a teacher in Bologna, where the guitarist and composer Giovanni Battista Granata was among his pupils. He then held various positions at the court of Carlo II, Duke of Mantua. However, he was frequently granted leave and probably traveled to Spain between 1644 and 1647, where he astonished the Madrid court with his virtuosity, and to Germany, where he was in the service of the Dukes of Hanover and the Spanish Netherlands and dedicated his fourth book, Varii scherzi di sonate, to the governor, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. According to his obituary, the Duke of Mantua recommended him to Louis XIV; although some sources claim that he taught Louis to play the guitar, this is unlikely, as the position is known to have been held by Bernard Jourdan de La Salle from 1650, when Louis was 12 years old, until 1695. Although Corbetta may have visited Paris earlier, he probably did not settle there until 1654. In 1656, he participated in Jean-Baptiste Lully’s ballet La galanterie du temps. The English king Charles II became aware of him while in exile and accompanied him to London during the Restoration. He spent the last 20 years of his life alternating between London and Paris. He is considered one of the greatest virtuosos of the Baroque guitar.