11 Facts About Ernesto Nazareth

Ernesto Julio de Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist, especially noted for his creative maxixe and choro compositions.

Strongly influenced by Chopin, Ernesto Nazareth published his first composition Voce Bem Sabe in 1877, at age 14.

In 1907 Ernesto Nazareth was appointed third book-keeper of the National Treasury, a position that he did not occupy for not mastering the English language.

Ernesto Nazareth began giving private piano lessons, and worked as a pianist for Casa Gomes in 1921, and the Odeon Cinema from 1920 until 1924.

Ernesto Nazareth was given a grand piano as a gift from his admirers.

Ernesto Nazareth was one of the first artists to play for the Society Radio of Rio de Janeiro.

Ernesto Nazareth fled the asylum February 1,1934 and was found dead three days later in the adjacent forest near a waterfall, where he had drowned.

Ernesto Nazareth was noted for creatively combining diverse influences into his music, not only of Brazilian music but from the music of Europe, Africa and ragtime.

Ernesto Nazareth composed 88 tangos, 41 waltzes, 28 polkas and numerous sambas, galops, quadrilles, Schottisches, fox-trots, romances and other types of scores, totaling 211 complete compositions.

Ary Vasconcelos tells us in his book Panorama da Musica Popular Brasileira that Ernesto Nazareth was a "devoted family man who often gave the songs he composed titles in honor of his son, sometimes his wife, or another relative".

In September 1930, accepting an invitation made by Eduardo Souto, then artistic director of Odeon-Parlophone, Ernesto Nazareth recorded this piece.