Collet was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and began studying guitar at a young age. He showed a great aptitude for the instrument and became the favourite student of Oswaldo Soares at the Academia Musical de São Paulo. Soares was a renowned guitarist and teacher who studied under Josefina Robledo. Following Robledo’s example, both Soares and Collet were dedicated adherents of the ‘Tárrega School’.
Collet’s father, an archivist for the curia of São Paulo, managed to acquire an Simplicio guitar for his son — Francisco Simplicio (1874-1932) was one of the finest luthiers of the time. Collet gave his first recital in 1933. One attendee, Professor Caldeira Filho, wrote that his performance ‘shines among us as a prime example of the rich possibilities of the strict virtuoso school.’
Collet worked full-time as an inspector, checking that businesses were complying with the law, but would devotedly practice guitar in the evenings. His daughter, Beatriz, recalls with great pleasure listening to him play while she lay in bed at night. Collet had notable success as a concert performer in Brazil. In 1950, the musicologist Eurico Nogueira França described him as ‘one of our guitarists who elevate the instrument to an artistic level’.1 Collet also performed on radio and television, as well as recording an album, Concêrto, in 1959.
Sadly, Collet suffered from heart problems, caused by blockage of the mitral valve. He gave up drinking and smoking entirely, and this big, muscular man (see picture below) had to refrain from physical strain — if the luggage was to be carried, for example, his wife would have to do it, to the bemusement, and indeed amusement, of many around. Although he never stopped playing guitar, his ability diminished over time, until his death in 1970, age 59.
Apparently, Collet found the recording process disagreeable — the engineers would frequently interfere with his playing, telling him to play quietly, then loudly, then this way and that. (Juan Mercadal encountered something similar when recording his album At Vizcaya, with a conceited and hapless engineer putting together the wrong takes and even speeding up the final recordings!) When Collet died, the family found that they did not have the recordings as all the copies had been given away. With determined spirit, his daughter Beatriz went to every music shop to find a copy of his album, and eventually found a collector with a copy. Here is a recording from the album, Espalhafatoso by Ernesto Nazareth:
My many thanks to Beatriz Collet for answering my questions about her father and regaling me with many delightful anecdotes; and also Miguel Feitosa, Collet’s grandson, for supplying further information and recordings.
- Clayton Vetromilla, ‘Anos 1950: sobre a música brasileira de concerto “para” violão’, in Anais do PERFORMUS’19 – VII Congresso Internacional da
Associação Brasileira de Performance Musical (Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2019) pp. 291-297. ↩︎
No-Nail Guitar 
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