celesta history
A keyboard instrument where hammers strike metal plates, producing a delicate, bell-like tone famously used in Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."
In Depth
Tchaikovsky was so worried about being scooped that he begged his publisher to keep the celesta secret — he wrote: "I want nobody to know about it... I am afraid Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov might hear of it and use the effect before me."
Related Terms
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