Charles-Simon Catel

Charles-Simon Catel, 1817, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Charles-Simon Catel (10 June 1773 – 29 November 1830) was a French composer and educator born at L'Aigle, Orne.

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 destitute 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.

Works

Lyrical works

• Sémiramis, lyric tragedy in three acts, libretto by Philippe Desriaux based on Voltaire, performed by the Opéra de Paris on 4 May 1802.
• Les artistes par occasion, farcical opera in one act, libretto by Alexandre Duval, performed at the Opéra-Comique in 1807.
• L'auberge de Bagnères, farcical opera in 3 acts, libretto by C. Jalabert, performed by the Opéra-Comique in 1807.
• Les bayadères, opera in 3 acts, libretto by Victor-Joseph-Étienne de Jouy based on Voltaire, performed at Opéra de Paris on 8 August 1810.
• Les aubergistes de qualité, comedy in 3 acts, libretto by Victor-Joseph-Étienne de Jouy, performed at Opéra-Comique on 17 June 1812
• Bayard à Mézières, comedy in one act, libretto by Alisvan de Chazet and Louis Emmanuel Mercier Dupaty, performed at Opéra-Comique in 1814.
• Le premier en date, comedy in one act, libretto by Marc-Antoine Désaugiers and Pessey, performed at Opéra-Comique in 1814.
• Wallace ou Le ménestrel écossais, epic opera in 3 acts, libretto by L. Ch. J. Fontanes de Saint-Marcellin, performed at Opéra-Comique in 1817.
• Zirphile et fleur de myrte ou cent ans en un jour, "opéra-féerie" in 2 acts, libretto by Victor-Joseph-Étienne de Jouy and Nicolas Lefebvre, performed at Opéra de Paris in 1818.
• L'officier enlevé, comedy in one act, libretto by Alexandre Duval, performed at Opéra-Comique in 1819.

Vocal and choral works

• Chant triomphal, 1807.
• Ode sur le Vaisseau Le Vengeur, words by Ponce-Denis Écouchard-Lebrun, for euphonium and orchestra.
• Hymne sur la reconquête de Toulon, for male choir and orchestra.

Sources

• Bouillet's Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie (1842),