Image: Wikimedia Commons

celesta

Struck idiophone operated by a keyboard

EntityQ320341

Also known as celeste

Subclass of: set of percussion plaques
, keyboard instrument

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

The celesta or celeste, also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to a four- or five-octave upright piano, albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box (three-octave). The keys connect to hammers that strike a graduated set of metal plates or bars suspended over wooden resonators. Four- or five-octave models usually have a damper pedal that sustains or damps the sound. The three-octave instruments do not have a pedal because of their small "table-top" design. One of the best-known works that uses the celesta is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker.

Overview

All data

37 statements · 27% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Hornbostel-Sachs classification: 111.222
Different from: keyboard glockenspiel

On other databases

32 identifiers linking celesta across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

27%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 5, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). celesta (Q320341). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/celesta-Q320341