Full of symbologies and resignifications, the trajectory of the memory of the composer and
conductor Antônio Carlos Gomes after his death in 1896 motivates this research work that
focuses on unraveling how the image and representation of this artist had been manipulated and
used in the beginning of the Republic. only to create a heroic figure and a Brazilian musical
representative, but by reluctantly republicanizing him, they use him to antagonistically
legitimate new leaders and a newly created republican symbology. In this sense, the work uses
the analytical-descriptive method with the sources, work approaching it through the narratives
of the periods that follow, using letters from the composer, articles and articles in newspapers
of the time, and also, biographical books and lithographs produced for his honor. This work
seeks to understand the reinterpretations made by republicans using these materials and the
press coordinated by political groups, understanding how these intertwine with the changes that
Brazil was forced to undergo, creating homeland heroes, perfect characters, to motivate a
nationalist pride in a cut between 1889 and 1930. These changes guide discourses and generate
conflicts in the search to create a unifying Brazilian identity for the nation. To analyze it is to
discover other faces of what was built and mobilized in these periods using the memory of an
artist, but it is also to unveil the strategies that made it possible for a mestizo to become an
example of what it was for the imperial and republican governments to “be a Brazilian”.