基本介紹
貓琴（英文名：cat piano或 cat organ 德文名：Katzenklavier）是一種由活貓組成的樂器。先挑選音色純正的貓，將它們按音調高低的順序放在籠子內，再把它們的尾巴固定在琴的鍵盤之下。當演奏者敲擊琴鍵時，機械裝置就會將銳利的長釘打進貓的尾巴，使得它們發出悲慘的哀鳴聲。
但事實上，並沒有實際的文獻以及作品證明這種樂器曾經被製作出來過，絕大多數人認為這只是出現在小說中的奇幻概念。
貓琴首次出現於法國小說家Jean Baptiste Weckerlin的Musiciana, extraits d’ouvrages rare ou bizarre(Musiciana, descriptions of rare or bizarre inventions)一書中，原文如下
When the King of Spain Felipe II was in Brussels in 1549 visiting his father the Emperor Charles V, each saw the other rejoicing at the sight of a completely singular procession. At the head marched an enormous bull whose horns were burning, between which there was also a small devil. Behind the bull a young boy sewn into a bear skin rode on a horse whose ears and tail were cut off. Then came the archangel Saint Michael in bright clothing, and carrying a balance in his hand.
The most curious was on a chariot that carried the most singular music that can be imagined. It held a bear that played the organ; instead of pipes, there were sixteen cat heads each with its body confined; the tails were sticking out and were held to be played as the strings on a piano, if a key was pressed on the keyboard, the corresponding tail would be pulled hard, and it would produce each time a lamentable meow. The historian Juan Christoval Calvete, noted the cats were arranged properly to produce a succession of notes from the octave... (chromatically, I think).
This abominable orchestra arranged itself inside a theatre where monkeys, wolves, deer and other animals danced to the sounds of this infernal music.
