Brilliant Invention or Torture Device?
German scholar Athanasius Kircher designed a musical instrument that some people would view as a torture device. He called this instrument a katzenklavier. For some reason, it never really caught on, and therefore isn't still in use today.
The katzenklavier was a musical instrument that consisted of a row of cages. Inside of those cages the keyboardist would place a row of cats. The cats chosen for each performance would be specially selected to have different voice pitches.
The cats would be arranged so that the lowest pitch would be on the keyboardists left hand side while the highest pitch would be on the keyboardists right hand side. A hole was located in the back of each cage to allow the cats tail to hang out onto a wooden table.
The cats could then be "played" by a keyboardist. The keyboardist would have a series of nails that he would drive into their tails causing them to scream in different pitches. The nails could also be bent and twisted, while in the cats tails to produce different sounds.
In later years, the instrument was redesigned. Feeling that his first design was too crude, a keyboard was placed above the cats tails on the wooden table. Different size nails were fixed to the back of each key to press into the cats tails at specific locations to produce unique sounds. This new design cut down on bloodshed and made the music more easy to control.
The audience would then watch as the keyboardist made, what was in their opinion, beautiful music. Not only did they get to enjoy this beautiful music, they also got to witness a show like they had never seen.
Although this great invention may have never become mainstream, it was definitely enjoyed buy a few lucky viewers. Athanasius Kircher designed his musical masterpiece to lift the spirits of an Italian Prince whose duties seemed to overwhelm him. The prince, along with others in the Kingdom were the first to witness this amazing interpretation of music.
In 1803, German psychiatrist Johann Christian Reil proclaimed that the device could help the mentally ill. Johann Christian, who also invented the word "psychiatry", claimed that the beautiful music along with the hysterical visions of suffering cats could return the mentally ill from their tortured state.
It is a shame that we are not able to witness this today. All I have are visions of a clown banging on cats tails as he is consumed with laughter, while the cats scream in pain.