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
The celesta was invented by Auguste Mustel in Paris in 1886. It resembles a small upright piano but produces sound through felt hammers striking tuned steel plates suspended over wooden resonators. The result is a pure, ethereal, music-box-like tone that is softer and more sustained than the glockenspiel. The instrument has a keyboard range of four or five octaves and includes a sustain pedal.
Tchaikovsky discovered the celesta in Paris and was so enchanted that he secretly commissioned one, asking his publisher to keep it hidden from Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov until the premiere of The Nutcracker (1892), where the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" introduced the instrument to the world. Since then, it has appeared in countless orchestral scores: Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta gives it a title role, and film composers use it extensively for magical, mysterious, or childlike atmospheres. John Williams's Harry Potter theme features the celesta prominently, introducing the instrument to a new generation.
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."