In 1860, Parisian Victor Mustel invented the dulcitone, on which sounds were generated by striking tuning forks with felt hammers; however, the resultant volume was too low to be used in an orchestra.  Mustel's son Auguste replaced the tuning forks with metal plates in 1886, and the celeste (or celesta) was born.  The original 4-octave keyboard has more recently been expanded to 5 octaves.

Tchaikovsky first encountered this exciting new instrument during a tour of Paris.  Taking one home with him to Russia, his celeste became the featured soloist in this work from the Nutcracker Suite.  Although the complete Nutcracker ballet did not achieve much popularity until the 1960's, the Christmas-oriented suite itself has been a big favorite since its premiere in 1892.

The MP3 duplicates the actual score.  The keyboard part begins in bar #5.