The Cimbalom   

The Cimbalom (Hammer dulcimer)

The instrument cimbalom is a concert hammer dulcimer. Some spellings used to describe this instrument and also the instruments in its immediate family include cimbal, cymbalom, cymbalum (see Trivia), ?ambal, tsymbaly,tsimbl, santouri, or sandouri. It can be primary found in the countries of East Europe that previously made upAustria-Hungary. It includes present day Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republicand Slovakia. The name "cimbalom" is also used to refer to smaller, related or earlier versions of this instrument.It has the catalog number 314.122-4,5 under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of classification of musical instruments. The numbers in the Hornbostel-Sachs give us a description of the instrument as: (3)chordophone, (1) simple zither, (4) made of boards (1) with a string plate, parallel to the sound source, (2) with a resonator, (2) case like, (4) sound produced by hammers, (5) sound produced by plucking.

History of the Cimbalom

The first representation of a simple struck chordophone which we categorize as a hammer dulcimer can be found in the Assyrian bas-relief in Kyindjuk dated back to 3500 BC. The peoples of the Mediterranean all knew this instrument, as did it many peoples in Asia, but it existed under different names.There was a master piano maker who was taken the folk hammer dulcimer. His name was V. Josef Schunda he was living and working in Pest, Hungary, as the basis for a concert cimbalom for which he arranged serial production in 1874. The first textbook for the concert cimbalom was published by Geza Allaga, a member of the Hungarian Royal Opera orchestra in 1889.The instrument became popular during the time of the Austria-Hungary Empire and it was used by all the ethnic groups within the country including Jewish klezmorim, as well as Slavic and Magyar (Hungarian) musicians, and Roma (Gypsy) lautari musicians (l?utari). Use of the instrument spread by the end of the 19th century and took the place of the cobza in Romanian and Moldovan folk ensembles. It is used almost as a percussion instrument in Wallachia. In Transylvania and Banat, the style of playing is more tonal, heavy with arpeggios.

Types of the Cimbalom

Folk hammer dulcimers

Folk hammer dulcimers are usually referred to by their regional names. Throughout central and eastern Europe they are often referred to as "cimbalom" (cymbalom, cymbalum, ?ambal, tsymbaly, tsimbl, santouri, ?ambal, cimbál, cimbale etc.). These instruments can differ from each other in size, tuning, number of strings and method of holding and moving the hammers or "beaters". They are smaller and more portable than the concert cimbalom. They are often carried by a single musician in performance, typically using a strap around that player’s neck and leaning one edge of the instrument against his or her waist. The folk hammer dulcimer is played by striking two beaters against the strings, like the cimbalom, however these beaters tend to be much shorter (usually half the length) and often without soft coverings over the area which strikes the string. There are also no damper mechanisms therefore much use of the hand, fingers, and even forearms takes place for damping. Tunings are often diatonic or incompletely chromatic rather than the full chromatic tuning of the concert cimbalom and they can vary regionally. Closely related is the construction of these instruments to the style of music played on them. In addition to the emergence of the concert cimbalom in Hungary; some other regions in Eastern Europe also further developed their local version of folk dulcimer and more formal schools of playing followed (see Tsymbaly).

Concert cimbalom

The modern concert cimbalom is made by Kovács Balázs with a range of AA to a3.It was first developed byJózsef Schunda in 1874 in Budapest, Hungary and was closer in pitch, dynamic projection, range, and weight to a small piano than the various folk hammer dulcimers had been. This instrument is played primarily with beaters. It is equipped with a heavy frame for more dynamic power and added many strings courses for an extended range of sounds and a damper pedal to allow more dynamic control. Finally, it was added by Schunda four detachable legs to support this now much larger instrument.Concert instruments onward are fully chromatic and it have a range of four octaves plus a major 3rd; extending from C to e3. This larger concert instrument eventually found its way to other areas of the Austro-Hungarian empire such as Romania, Moldovaand Ukraine. In Romania, the large cimbalom is known as the ?ambal mare (literally "great cimbalom"). The cimbalom has continued it’s development and modern full size instruments are often further expanded and have numerous refinements beyond Schunda’s design. These instruments can now have a range that extends five full chromatic octaves from AA to a3.The contemporary makers also build smaller instruments. These run the gamut from less weighty versions of Schunda’s original concert layout to truly portable fully chromatic cimbaloms (which use Schunda’s signature tuning pattern and note layout but with reduced range in the bass). The modern makers also continue to build new and traditional folk style instruments.In Ukraine, a smaller more portable version of the concert cimbalom was produced during the 1950-80s that came with detachable legs and dampers, but could be carried more easily than the larger concert instrument. These instruments were produced by the Chernihiv factory and the Melnytso-Podilsk folk instruments workshop which also produced many types of other folk instruments.

Compositions for cimbalom

Classical and Contemporary Music

Many composers have written pieces for cimbalom. Zoltán Kodály made extensive use of the instrument in his orchestral suite Háry János. It helped make the cimbalom well known outside Eastern Europe. Igor Stravinsky was also an enthusiast. He owned a cimbalom and included one in his ballet Renard (1915-16) and also in his original (1917) scoring for Les Noces. Franz Liszt used the cimbalom in his Ungarischer Sturmmarsch (1876) and in the orchestral version of his 6th Hungarian Rhapsody. Bela Bartok used it in hisRhapsody #1 for violin and orchestra (1928). There are other composers who have made a great use of cimbalom in their works like Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Frank Zappa and Louis Andriessen.Henri Dutilleux used it in Myst?re de l’Instant for chamber orchestra. Elvis Costello’s orchestral ballet score Il Sogno includes several extended cimbalom passages. Harrison Birtwistle’s opera The Minotaur (2008) requires a cimbalom as well.

Film

The cimbalom has occasionally been used in film scores, especially to introduce a "foreign" feel. For example the cimbalom appears in Christmas in Connecticut in a scene in Felix’s (S.Z. Sakall) Hungarian restaurant inManhattan. It was used in the film score for the movie In the Heat of the Night. Composer Carmine Coppolamade heavy use of this instrument in his soundtrack for The Black Stallion to accentuate the Arabian heritage of the majestic horse. It was used by John Barry in the title theme for the film The Ipcress File, as well as in the main theme of the 1971 TV series The Persuaders!. In addition, John Williams has made less prominent use of the instrument in scores such as Raiders of the Lost Ark. More recently, Howard Shore used the cimbalom as well to express Gollum’s sneaky nature in Peter Jackson’s film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Rock

Alan Parsons used the cimbalom on his "I Robot" and "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" albums and is included in the guest musician acknowledgments. The experimental rock group Mr. Bungle made use of the cimbalom on the "Disco Volante" and "California" albums. It is included in the guest musician acknowledgments. The experimental performance organization Blue Man Group has used prepared cimbalom in its productions

Cimbalom players
In this list are there some notable cimbalom players:

• Pete Rushefsky: American klezmer tsimbl player
• Viktória Herencsár: Hungarian classical cimbalom virtuoso and soloist in the Hungarian Opera and Broadcasting Company; President of the Cimbalom World Association. Professor (lecturer) at the Music Department of the Academy of Culture in Banská Bystrica
• John H. Leach of Britain played the cimbalom in John Barry’s theme music for The Ipcress File and the theme music to The Persuaders, as mentioned in Barry’s autobiography.
• Hans-Kristian Kjos S?rensen: Norwegian cimbalist and percussionist. Cimbalom-soloist with the German Chamber Philharmonic of Bremen (Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Norwegian Chamber orchestra, Oslo Military Band. He premiered the performanvce of "Isternia" for solo-cimbalom by Per Nógrád in 2008.
• Kálmán Balogh: contemporary Hungarian cimbalom virtuoso
• Per Karang: Norwegian cimbalom player
• Luigi Gaggero: classical and contemporary cimbalom player; professor at the Conservatoire deStrasbourg
• Stuart Brotman of the American klezmer band Brave Old World
• Marcel Comendant within Pacora trio
• Vékony Ildikó: classical and contemporary Hungarian cimbalom player
• Richard Grimes: American classical cimbalom virtuoso; inventor of the electric cimbalom
• Giani Lincan: contemporary Romanian virtuoso
• Sandu Sura: Moldavian ?ambal player
• Michael Masley: contemporary American who plays the instrument with ten self-designedbowhammers
• Toni Iordache: Romanian ?ambal player
• Laurence Kaptain: American symphonic/chamber cimbalom artist
• Ion Miu: contemporary Romanian virtuoso
• Joseph Moskowitz: Father of klezmer "tsimbl"; one of the first to be recorded
• Jen? Lisztes: Gypsy cimbalom player from the Roby Lakatos ensemble
• Balázs Unger: Hungarian cimbalom player, who plays with The Hun Hangár Ensemble, who recently made an album with US folk duo A Hawk and a Hacksaw, And the Hun Hangar Ensemble
• Katerina Zlatníková: Czech cimbalom player with numerous appearance with such notable orchestras like the Vienna Philharmonic. Winner of Johann Wenzel Stamitz Prize. Founding member of the Cimbalom World Association

Hungária Koncert Kft.
Tel./fax.: +36 1 317 1377
Tel./fax.: +36 1 317 2754
E-mail: hunkonc@ticket.info.hu
Main office: Duna Palota, 1051 Budapest, Zrínyi u. 5. Hungary