Manufacturer’s note on history, the first: There is no formal music composed for the Katzenklavier. There is, in fact, only one noted instance of its use for musical purposes. This instance is cited by the French composer Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin in his 1877 work Musiciana, extraits d’ouvrages rare ou bizarre. Weckerlin describes a scene occurring in Brussels 328 years prior:
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…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. Each cat was arranged properly to produce a chromatic succession of notes in the octave.
This account of a Katzenklavier demonstrates the instrument’s improvisational nature; its music is, in many ways, a precursor to 20th century American jazz. Such explains the lack of codified music for your Katzenklavier. One must play one’s cats as they are; one must not presume the cat’s consistency. One must know one’s cats, and through one’s cats, understand one’s sound. Follow the cats; if the cats lead you astray, if the cats leave you lost, at least you have 6 – 16 companions, wherever you are.
