Marco Antonio Rivera Useche

Marco Antonio Rivera Useche (1895–1990) was a Venezuelan musician and composer. He was born in San Cristóbal on 19 June 1895 and died on 15 July 1990. He married Juanita Moreno Morales, with whom he had five children in 1937. Education Rivera was of humble origins. After completing primary education he began to work, eventually practicing the trades of carpentry, jewelry, heraldry and shoemaking. In 1910 he began studying music with the Italian master Nicolas Constantino Chicaroni (Vironto, Italy, 1857 - San Cristóbal, 1927), who had arrived in San Cristóbal in the company of other Italian musicians to be incorporated into the Táchira State Band, including Angelo Mottola (1881-1966), author the state Hymn of Anzoátegui. Career From 1912 Rivera became a full member of the TáchiraState band and from 1913 he started to receive a salary of Bs 100 per month. In 1916 he was exiled for a short period in Colombia for a confrontation with the president of the state, Eustace Gomez, cousin to the president of Venezuela, Juan Vicente Gómez. On his return he began to study English with a German professor named Sildner. He again went into exile in Colombia in 1919 but continued his musical studi