Scan 141
The New Grove Dictionary Of Music And Musicians 5 Ed. 2nd, 1904
21 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1b
2? Profiles of (a) Chinese, and (b) Turkish cymbals
43 Bronze cymbals, Greek, c500 BC (British Museum, London)
6rolled, hand-beaten and machine skimmed (pared) to a predetermined thickness. Each plate is slightly convex to ensure that only the outer edges meet. In the centre of each plate is a shallow saucer-like recess forming a dome. A double strap by which the cymbal is normally held is passed through a central hole and is knotted with a crown ('sailor's') knot inside the cymbal where the recess is concave. The strap is gripped between the thumb and first finger. To shield the knuckles a circular pad of soft leather or felt covers the dome. In some cases cymbals are held by a special handle. Moderate-quality cymbals of brass serve useful purposes, but are completely out of place in the full orchestra, where, with certain exceptions such as the occasional use of Chinese cymbals, only the best quality 'Turkish' instruments are acceptable.
8China is often credited with being the oldest cymbal-making country, but authentic records suggest that cymbals entered China by means of foreign influence. A Chinese source enumerates cymbals among the instruments of an East Turkestanic orchestra established at the imperial court in AD 384. According to the Yueh-shu, the bible of Chinese musical instruments written in AD 1104 by Ch'en Yang, cymbals came originally to China from Tibet, but other evidence suggests that the country of their origin may have been India or Turkey. A possible Turkish influence is suggested in the similarity of the content of the metal used in the manufacture of the old sacred cymbals of the Chinese (considered to have been 81% copper and 19% tin) and that used traditionally by Turkish cymbal makers. Cymbals (like gongs) have long been and continue to be used in the religious and secular life of the Chinese and, as well as manufacturing gongs, China remains a cymbal-making country.
10Present-day Chinese cymbals (nao po) differ from modern 'Turkish' cymbals in both shape and sound (see fig.2). In the majority of Chinese cymbals the curved section from the boss to the edge shows a distinct upward curve, and though the formula of the metal is similar in each case the casting and processing of the Chinese cymbal renders it brittle in sound and texture in comparison with the 'Turkish' cymbal. Consequently,
124 Indian finger cymbals (manjirā)
14Chinese cymbals are used in the Western orchestra only for special effects.
16Whether originally Chinese or not, cymbals are of ancient origin. Historians refer to their use in central Asia Minor in 1200 BC. There is constant reference to cymbals in the Bible if, in fact, the translation represents the original correctly. In Psalm cl loud and high-sounding cymbals are mentioned (from the Hebrew tsitsilim and metsilavim 'noisy' and 'clear'). The high-sounding cymbals could have been similar in design to the CROTALE of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. At the dedication of the Ark three musicians, Heman, Asaph (the chief) and Ethan, were appointed to play cymbals of brass.
18Cymbals not unlike those in use today are portrayed on Babylonian and Assyrian sculptures from the turn of the 1st millennium BC. A Babylonian plaque dated c700-600 BC (GB-Lhm) shows a cymbalist accompanying a performer on a drum. Here the cymbals are held vertically – a style maintained in the modern orchestra. An Assyrian bas-relief c680 BC depicts cymbals held horizontally. Egyptian cymbals (Lhm) include a pair of beaten bronze cymbals dated after 850 BC. These measure 17 cm in diameter and are secured by the original cord. Smaller bronze cymbals from Egypt and ancient Greece are also found (fig 3). These cymbals frequently defined as crotalcs – date from the middle of the 1st millennium BC, and are thicker than the beaten bronze cymbals. In most cases crotalcs, which in all probability were cast, have a large central boss and upturned rim. Many produce well-defined bell-like notes of high pitch. The 'well-tuned cymbals' of Psalm cl. Crotalcs vary in size, suggesting their use as cymbals and also as metal castanets and finger cymbals (fig.4).
20In Europe, cymbals appear on early Greek and Roman architecture. They are clearly portrayed on a marble statue of the Hellenic period 3rd century BC, and on a mosaic found at Pompeii dated AD 73. An illustration from Herculaneum shows a pair of cymbals connected by a strap. In contrast, on an ancient Greek drawing of a female centaur and a bacchante, the centaur holds a cymbal in her left hand which she strikes against an identical instrument held in the bacchante's
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