A history of the cimbalom: from medieval zithers to the concert stage
How a portable board zither became a concert instrument with 133 strings and a pedal. A short history of the cimbalom in Europe and in Slovakia.
The cimbalom as we know it from concert stages and folk bands is a fairly young instrument, yet its family tree reaches deep into the Middle Ages.
Board zithers: a long prelude
Instruments in which mallets strike strings stretched across a wooden board were known in medieval Europe and in Asia alike. The same family includes the German Hackbrett, the English hammered dulcimer, the Persian santur and the Chinese yangqin, proof that the idea of a “struck string instrument” arose independently in several parts of the world.
In the Kingdom of Hungary, the smaller portable cimbalom became a natural part of folk bands over the centuries: carried on a strap, tuned to whatever the band needed, played at weddings and country fairs.
1874: Schunda’s grand cimbalom
The turning point came in Budapest. In 1874 the instrument maker József Schunda gave the cimbalom what it needed to reach the concert hall: a rigid frame on legs, a damper pedal, and a full chromatic range with stable tuning. A folk instrument became one composers could write for. And they did: Ferenc Erkel and Zoltán Kodály (the celebrated Háry János suite), then Stravinsky in the 20th century and later György Kurtág.
The Slovak thread
Around the turn of the 20th century, workshops in what is now Slovakia and Czechia took up Schunda’s school, and the making tradition here has never been broken. Workshops in Slovakia and Czechia still build concert cimbaloms, and the region remains one of the world’s centres of cimbalom making.
The cimbalom today
The instrument leads a double life: it is the heart of cimbalom band music, from village dances to weddings and folklore festivals, and at the same time a concert instrument with its own repertoire, university departments and an international community around the Cimbalom World Association. We will return to both worlds on cimbal.sk.
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Frequently asked questions
When was the modern concert cimbalom created?
In 1874 in Budapest, by the instrument maker József Schunda. He added legs, a damper pedal and a stable frame with a chromatic range.
How long have cimbaloms been made in Slovakia?
Workshops in Slovakia and Czechia continue a Central European making tradition that goes back to the turn of the 20th century, and they still build concert cimbaloms today.