This guide is part of our overview of the essential classical guitar repertoire. Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885–1944) was the greatest guitarist-composer of the twentieth century — a Paraguayan visionary who gave the classical guitar a body of original works of such richness and emotional depth that his reputation has only grown in the decades since his death.
The Forest Paganini
Born on the banks of the Paraná river in Paraguay, Barrios showed extraordinary gifts from childhood. He adopted the name "Mangoré" — the name of a Guaraní chieftain — and sometimes performed in indigenous dress, combining the European classical tradition with a deep identification with the culture of his continent. He spent most of his adult life touring Latin America and later Europe, performing an enormous repertoire from memory and composing ceaselessly.
His works encompass every mood and technical demand. The barcarole Julia Florida (1938) is one of the most intimate and tender pieces in the guitar canon. La Catedral — his masterwork, composed in three movements across two decades — carries the weight of religious experience and technical grandeur simultaneously. His many waltzes and mazurkas breathe with the vitality of Latin popular music filtered through a classical musician's craft. His output runs to well over 300 works, spanning virtually every form and character available to the solo guitar.
