Celesta

A keyboard instrument in which hammers strike metal plates, producing a soft, bell-like tone. Its keyboard action resembles a piano, but its sound comes from tuned metal rather than strings.

Keyboard instrument: A musical instrument played by pressing keys that trigger sound-producing mechanisms. The celesta belongs to this family, though its keys set hammers against metal plates.
The Nutcracker: A ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, first performed in 1892, based on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story. The celesta’s famous appearance in the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” helped popularize it.
Piano: A keyboard instrument whose hammers strike strings to produce sound. Both use piano-like key actions, but the piano strikes strings rather than metal plates.
Auguste Mustel: A French instrument maker associated with developing and patenting the celesta in the late nineteenth century. Mustel refined the instrument and helped establish the celesta’s modern form.
Metal plate: A flat piece of metal that vibrates when struck and can produce a pitched sound. Tuned plates are the celesta’s sound-producing elements.
Struck idiophone: An instrument whose vibrating solid material produces sound when struck. The celesta’s plates vibrate directly after the hammers hit them.
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy: A dance from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker, featuring a prominent celesta part. Its bright, delicate melody is among the instrument’s best-known orchestral passages.
Glockenspiel: A percussion instrument with tuned metal bars struck by mallets. It shares the celesta’s bright metal timbre but lacks a keyboard action.
Victor Mustel: A French instrument maker who developed an early celesta in the nineteenth century. His work preceded the later refinements associated with his son Auguste.
Tuning: The adjustment of musical pitches to a desired standard or relationship. Each celesta plate must be tuned to produce its assigned note.

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ClavichordCompared with: It resembles a small keyboard instrument in use but produces sound from plates rather than strings.