Overture in C

Charles Simon Catel was one of the most important musicians in France during the eighteenth century. His treatise on harmony for many years was the accepted text at the Paris Conservatory. The Overture in C was composed in 1792 for the Band of the National Guard, with whom Catel maintained a long association. The piece shows the composer at his best, and the influence of Mozart is clearly recognizable. In its elegance and clarity, it is a characteristic of the perfection of the late eighteenth-century style, and is one of the most delightful of all the works composed for wind band during this period. (Source: Band Music Notes, Norman Smith and Albert Stoutamire)