Charles Simon Catel was a French composer and educator born at L'Aigle, Orne. 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