Alberto Nepomuceno was a Brazilian composer and conductor. He was the son of Vitor Augusto Nepomuceno and Maria Virginia de Oliveira Paiva. He started studying music with his father, who was a violinist, organist, teacher and chapel-master at the Cathedral of Fortaleza, Brazil. In 1872, he moved with his family to Recife (Brazil), where he started studying piano and violin. Later on, he became one of the most important defenders of the Republican and Abolitionist causes in Brazil, being very active in several campaigns over that time period, leading to the overthrow of the Monachy and creation of the First Brazilian Republic in 1889. However, he did not stop being a musician, and at the age of eighteen, he became director of the Carlos Gomes Club where all the important music concerts happened in Recife, Brazil.