Celesta
A keyboard instrument whose hammers strike steel plates set above resonators.
What it means
The celesta is a keyboard instrument in which a keyboard action triggers felt-covered hammers that strike steel plates. Wooden resonators beneath the plates amplify and shape the sound. Unlike the piano, no strings vibrate; instead, fixed metal plates do, giving the tone a bright, soft, bell-like quality that is noticeably rounder than a glockenspiel.
The celesta was invented and patented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel in Paris. Its name comes from the French adjective céleste (“heavenly”), describing the instrument's floating tone quality.
In the notation
The celesta is notated on its own staff, usually in treble clef, and typically sounds an octave higher than written. A pedal, similar to the piano's, allows notes to be sustained.
Musical use
The celesta is used mainly as an orchestral color, more rarely as a solo instrument. The best-known example is the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from Tchaikovsky's ballet “The Nutcracker” (1892), one of the first major orchestral works to feature the new timbre. Béla Bartók also used the celesta prominently, for instance in his “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.”
The celesta should be distinguished from the glockenspiel: both produce a bright, metallic sound from struck metal bodies, but the glockenspiel is usually played directly with mallets, while the celesta has a keyboard, allowing polyphonic playing and finer dynamic control.
Performance practice
Play the celesta with a calm, controlled touch as on the piano, since too hard a strike destroys its soft tone quality. Use the pedal deliberately to build sustained textures without letting individual notes blur, and keep the actual sounding octave in mind in multi-voice passages.