The twinkly sound of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” in “The Nutcracker,” comes from a celesta (or celeste), a keyboard instrument named for its heavenly — celestial — bell-like sound. The story goes that composer Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky first heard the celesta in Paris in 1891 and immediately ordered one for himself, asking the instrument-makers to keep his purchase a secret from rival composers, especially fellow Russian Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Tchaikovsky wanted the celesta’s distinctive sound to be linked forever to “The Nutcracker” — and it is!
“The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads” comes from a poem by whom?
A) Lewis Carroll
B) Emily Dickinson
C) A.A. Milne
D) Clement Clarke Moore
Previous answer: Barbados — like Cambodia, Ecuador, Iceland and the state of Hawaii (among other places) — does not observe daylight saving time.
TRIVIA FANS: Leslie Elman is the author of “Weird But True: 200 Astounding, Outrageous and Totally Off the Wall Facts.” Contact her at [email protected]
