A few hundred years after the invention of the cat organ, in 1868 Austrian artist Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) created his own music for cats, the Katzensymphonie.
In the Katzensymphonie (1868), cats roll and climb over the musical score. The name is a play on words – Katzenmusik is a German term used to describe unpleasant noise.
Moritz von Schwind was known primarily for his paintings of scenes from legends and for his many illustrations of popular folktales, but he was highly influenced by music, especially that of his compatriot Franz Schubert (1797–1828). As the Met notes, “Music became for Schwind an intrinsic element of his pictorial world. In 1853-55 he painted the contest of the minstrels from Richard Wagner’s Tannhiiuser on the walls of Wartburg Castle where it had taken place in 1207. His last fresco cycle in the Vienna Opera House was dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Magic Flute.”
Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860.
Die Schwarzen Katzen
The Katzensymphonie was a gift for the Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) to mark his new role as director of Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik.
Schwind and Joachim were members of Die Schwarzen Katzen (The Black Cats), a society founded by the singer Amalie Joachim, and Bernhard and Luise Scholz in 1862.
Membership of the group was only for people “who, through ‘cat-like behaviour’, made themselves worthy of such noble wine”. One rule stated: “Uncat-like speech or actions shall be duly punished before the Chapter, and any member who opposes this shall be expelled from the order.”
The group’s name and that aforesaid rule hark back to an incident that supposedly occurred in the cellar of the Mayntzer winery in Zell, Germany, around 1862.
Well into the 20th century, it was customary throughout the Moselle region to sell off the cellar stock in barrels. According to the story, three wine merchants from Aachen were close to concluding negotiations in one cellar. After lengthy tastings, three barrels were shortlisted, but they couldn’t agree on one as the best. The winemaker’s sister, accompanied by a black house cat, entered the cellar to offer a snack to help the buyers make their choice. When the winery owner once again tried to insert the tasting tube into one of the three barrels, the cat leapt on top of it and lashed out at him and anyone else who tried to take a drop. The merchants had to admit defeat to the black cat and, without further tasting, bought the wine the cat had defended and which they had long recognised as the best.
Play The Katzensymphonie For Me
Schwind sent a photograph of his sheet music to the German pastor and poet Edward Mörike (8 September 1804 – 4 June 1875) on January 19, 1869, with an accompanying letter that notes Joachim’s inability to play the Wagnerian Katzensymphonie:
“I have become a musician, a musician of the future in the second higher degree. Away with the old, stiff, dry staff! Outdated, outdated, outdated stuff — I need a new, spiritualized, lively means of expression for my new, unimagined thoughts — whether it’s sounds, images or the devil knows what, it doesn’t matter — I have achieved the unbelievable. The enclosed sonata, dedicated to Mr Joachim, is a telling proof. He confesses that he is incapable of playing it — this wizard on the violin! Incidentally, it can be noted that Joachim and I belong to the famous Order of the Black Cat and that it was this inconspicuous occasion – that brought about this giant leap in music.”
Your can buy a print of the Katzensymphonie in the shop.
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