猫琴，是一种由活猫组成的乐器。先挑选音色纯正的猫，将它们按音调高低的顺序放在笼子内，再把它们的尾巴固定在琴的键盘之下

• 中文名称 猫琴
• 外文名称 The cat piano
• 含义 是一种由活猫组成的乐器
• 德文名 Katzenklavier

　　猫琴(英文名:cat piano或 cat organ 德文名:Katzenklavier)是一种由活猫组成的乐器。先挑选音色纯正的猫，将它们按音调高低的顺序放在笼子内，再把它们的尾巴固定在琴的键盘之下。当演奏者敲击琴键时，机械装置就会将锐利的长钉打进猫的尾巴，使得它们发出悲惨的哀鸣声。

　　但事实上，并没有实际的文献以及作品证明这种乐器曾经被制作出来过，绝大多数人认为这只是出现在小说中的奇幻概念。

　　猫琴首次出现于法国小说家Jean Baptiste Weckerlin的Musiciana, extraits d'ouvrages rare ou bizarre(Musiciana, descriptions of rare or bizarre inventions)一书中，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.