Charles-Simon Catel (10 June 1773 – 29 November 1830) was a French composer and educator born at
L'Aigle,
Orne.[1]
Biography
Catel studied at the Royal School of Singing in Paris. He was the chief assistant to
François-Joseph Gossec at the orchestra of the National Guard in 1790. A member of the Institute, he jointly composed pieces of military music for official state ceremonies, including L'Hymne à la Victoire (Victory Hymn), with words by
Ponce-Denis Écouchard-Lebrun. He was appointed inaugural professor of harmony at the
Conservatoire de Paris, but was relieved of his duties in 1814. Amongst his students were the
Prix de Rome winning composers
Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul and
Victor Dourlen, the Belgian composer
Martin-Joseph Mengal, and the famous, if eccentric, harpist
Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. Catel died in
Paris.
His works include a Treatise on Harmony (1802), which was used by the young
Berlioz, several concert band works, several dramatic compositions at the
Opéra National de Paris: Sémiramis, Les bayadères; at the
Opéra-Comique: Artistes par occasion, L'Auberge de Bagnères (1807); Wallace (1817); symphonies, quartets etc.