Napoleon Coste

• Wikipedia
• IMSLP
• Rischel & Birket-Smith’s Collection of guitar music 1 Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark
• Boije Collection The Music Library of Sweden
• GC

622

Napoléon Coste (born June 28, 1805, in Amondans (Doubs department); died February 17, 1883, in Paris) was a 19th-century French guitarist, guitar teacher, and composer. He enriched guitar literature through the consistent development of the guitar’s polyphonic possibilities and was a prominent representative of the Romantic era of the guitar. His own playing was highly virtuosic; he was a student of Sor and consistently continued his polyphonic composition for guitar. By the end of the 19th century, most of his work had fallen into oblivion. His Etudes Op. 38 are very beautiful, but some are quite difficult to play.