cimbalom, an elaborate stringed instrument of the dulcimer family used in small music ensembles by central European Roma (Gypsies). The instrument has a trapezoidal body that stands on four legs. It has a chromatic range of four octaves and, unlike other dulcimers, a pedal mechanism for damping the strings. The cimbalom has about 125 metal strings, with 3 to 5 strings per note. Some of the strings have two or three bridges along their length. The musician, who plays in a seated position, strikes the strings with two small, spoon-shaped wooden hammers, one held in each hand. The hammers are covered with either hard or soft leather, depending on the tone quality desired.
Related to the Middle Eastern sanṭūr and the German Hackbrett, the cimbalom was played in Hungary by the 16th century. Portable folk cimbalom of older origins are played in the rural areas of Hungary, with closely related forms found in Romania, Greece, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The portable version of the cimbalom is strapped across the player’s shoulders, and the performer stands while playing.
The modern cimbalom was invented in Budapest about 1870 by Jozsef Schunda. Some 20 years later it was proclaimed the national instrument of Hungary, and by 1897 courses in cimbalom instruction were offered at the Budapest Academy of Music. Franz Liszt introduced the cimbalom as an orchestral instrument in his Ungarischer Sturmmarsch (1876), and it was later used by Igor Stravinsky in Le Renard (1916) and Ragtime (1918) and by Zoltán Kodály in Háry János (1926).