Pierre Jean Porro (1750 - 1831) France Pierre-Jean Porro (7 December 1750 – 31 May 1831) was an influential French guitarist, composer and music publisher.
Porro was born in Bagnols, Provence, France, with the French surname Porre, later italianising his name according to the fashion of the time. He received his early musical training in Béziers before moving to Paris in 1783. There he taught guitar and worked as a music publisher. By 1786, responding to the increased demand for printed music, Porro expanded his publishing house and diversified into musical instrument sales. He was also an editor and publisher of various journals such as the weekly Le Journal de Guitare (1787–1803) in which he published his own compositions as well as French editions of the works of Italian composers such as Francesco Durante, Jommelli, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in addition to those of the composers of his time such as Mozart and Haydn.
In all, he published 37 works for the 5- and 6-string guitars and the lyre-guitar (popular in the French salons in the late 18th century). Porro also wrote a guitar method (Methode de guitare à six cordes op. 31) which included material for the lyre-guitar.