Do you have any memorabilia of the Var musician Gustave Bret? Estérel-Côte d'Azur agglomeration is collecting them

Since Monday, Estérel-Côte d'Azur Agglomération has been organizing a major collection of archives and testimonies on Gustave Bret (1875 - 1969), organist, composer and important figure in French music.

The "Tribute to Gustave Bret" project combines heritage collection and musical programming. Letters, photographs, scores, recordings, and personal memorabilia are sought from the public.

These contributions will feed into six free concerts, exhibitions and archival readings planned between September 26 and October 11, 2025. The initiative aims to restore the rightful place of this music transmitter, founder of the Jean-Sébastien Bach Society and friend of Fauré, Debussy, Schweitzer and Widor, who lived and worked for a long time in Fréjus.

A life dedicated to music

Born in Brignoles in 1875, Gustave Bret chose music against family expectations, leaving law studies to join the Schola Cantorum in Paris. A virtuoso organist, conductor and critic, he distinguished himself in the promotion of Johann Sebastian Bach and the preservation of musical heritage, recording from 1931 on the organ of Fréjus Cathedral. We don't realize what we owe him , emphasizes Isabelle Pintus de Nicola, head of the Community Archives. He was the first organist to have recorded Fauré's Requiem .

A close friend of Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Albert Schweitzer and Charles-Marie Widor, Gustave Bret played a discreet but decisive role in the dissemination of sacred music and the training of young musicians. Pablo Casals wrote to him in 1955: I would like France to realize the gratitude it owes you .

An intercommunal tribute

From September 26 to October 11, 2025, six free concerts will be held in the five municipalities of the agglomeration: Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Puget-sur-Argens and Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel.

The tailor-made programs will combine organ works, vocal music, and readings from previously unpublished archives. The artist's descendants, themselves musicians, will participate in this tribute.

The closing ceremony, on October 11 in Fréjus, will feature a performance by the Camerata Vocale under the direction of Adèle Ponce, preceded by a conference and an exhibition of original documents at the Villa-Marie Media Library.

Call for contributors

Residents, associations and institutions are invited to lend or donate any document or object related to Gustave Bret: scores, correspondence, press articles, recordings... Each piece collected will contribute to enriching the common memory , insists Isabelle Pintus de Nicola. We want to reach as many people as possible so that the personality of Gustave Bret is rediscovered and posterity keeps his memory for a long time .

This approach is part of a memorial tourism project aimed at promoting the region's leading figures, but also at recreating a living link between the musical past and contemporary creation.

Share your contributions with the Community Archives: 04.83.09.84.27. [email protected]