Born in Petropolis, the Brazilian composer, violinist, teacher, and researcher Guerra-Peixe started to play the violin when he was 11 years old. In 1931, he started his studies in harmony at the Escola Nacional de Música in Rio de Janeiro, the city where he also studied composition with Newton Pádua at the Conservatório Brasileiro from 1938 to 1943. In 1944, he came into contact with the serialist composer Koellreutter, who influenced his compositions and led Guerra-Peixe to participate in Koellreutter’s group, Musica Viva. In 1949, Guerra-Peixe abandoned serialism and started his research on north-east Brazilian folk music, published in his book Maracatus do Recife.

During his life, Guerra-Peixe played in orchestras, wrote popular pieces and arrangements for broadcasts and recordings, worked in radio, and received multiple awards. He is best known in Brazil by his later works in a nationalistic style, where he explored the folk music of the country and incorporated it into his work.