Arthur Napoleão

Arthur Napoleão dos Santos was a Portuguese composer, pianist, instrument dealer and music publisher. He was brother of Aníbal Napoleão and Alfredo Napoleão, who like Arthur were pianists and composers.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Arthur Napoleão dos Santos.

From the period sources

Arthur Napoleão, born in Oporto in 1843 to an Italian father and Portuguese mother, was a remarkably precocious pianist, according to The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1924). He began playing in Oporto at age six, and by age eleven, had appeared in Lisbon, London, Paris, and Berlin. His early career as a virtuoso also took him on extensive tours, visiting South America, the West Indies, and the United States between 1857 and 1861, as Grove’s Dictionary (1920) records. After further European concertizing, Napoleão gave up his performing career in 1866. Two years later, he settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he founded what The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1924) describes as “the leading South American music- and piano-selling business.” While primarily a music-dealer, he also published some piano pieces and occasionally served as a conductor, leading anniversary festivals in 1876 and 1880. Notably, the French violinist and composer Paul Mériel was a pupil of Napoleão, as noted in The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1924).