René de Castéra (April 3, 1873 - October 8, 1955) was a French composer, music publisher and critic as well. He studied at the Paris Conservatory, and was one of the first students at the Schola Cantorum, where he studied under Vincent d'Indy, and Isaac Albeniz.

de Castéra spent time in Brussels where he was part of an artistic circle called "La Libre Esthetique", and he wrote many of his compositions there. Critics during the time praised his work highly, and he even earned the praise of the Queen of Belgium, Elizabeth of Bavaria. He would later go on to fight in World War 1, where he fought in the battle of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, and later on, just like Maurice Ravel, drove a truck for the army. Much of his post-war life is unknown, though he did return to the general area where he grew up, and cultivated an artistic life there.

Le Petit chat es mort is a short composition for piano written in 1912, and it has a sweet wistfulness about it. The opening bars sound highly Impressionistic, but as soon as you begin to enjoy those sonorities, the piece carries on to the main melody. A darker theme in the lower register follows, only to be interrupted a cheerful, hopeful interlude, and the beginning melody then returns to round it out. It's a very sweet, wistful piece!

Unfortunately, there are no known recordings of this piece; hopefully that will change one day!