In spite of its ancient origins, composers have only recently become interested in the cimbalom. One of the main reasons being the championing by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag.

The cimbalom's ancestors date back to the middle ages.The quanum, from the Islamic world, was the immediate predecessor of the Psaltery in the 11th century. In Greece,Turkey and Persia the santur originated, in Russia the gusli and in Hungary the cimbalom. During the 18th century the cimbalom dominated gypsy orchestras, giving them an unmistakable colour.The first non-Hungarian comopsers who exploited the typical sound of the cimbalom were Debussy and Stravinsky.Among composers of today, we can mention Boulez, Dutilleux, Eitvos, Fedele, Ferneyhough, Kagel and Stockhausen.

Luigi Gaggero is the only professor of cimbalom in Western Europe: he teaches at the Strasbourg Conservatory and has performed under the direction of Abbado, Boulez, Eotvos, Muti and Simon Rattle.