Joseph Moskowitz

Born in Romania in 1879, Joseph Moskowitz was a child prodigy who mastered the cymbalom as a boy and began playing it on Danubian riverboats at the age of 11. The cimbalom, cymbalom, or cymbalum, known in the U.S. as a hammered dulcimer, is believed to have descended from the Persian santur and to share this ancestry with the harpsichord. Played with "beaters," the large concert cimbalom (often fitted with a damping pedal) was developed in Europe during the 19th century and is known in Romania as the "tambal mare" or "great cymbalum." Moskowitz first played the instrument on U.S. soil shortly after his arrival in Boston in 1908, and soon made his way to New York City. He spent several years performing in various eateries, and was written up by a New York Times reporter in an article dated April 26, 1908, that describes his presentation ...
Read Full Biography