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Talk:Keyboard glockenspiel

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With pedal

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When Stockhausen (whom I was privileged to meet once) calls for two keyboard glockenspiels with pedal I wondered whether this might be a mistranslation, and that what he meant might simply be two celestas, with keyboard glockenspiel perhaps being a literal translation of a German name for them. Stockhausen's English was good enough to give superb lectures, including taking questions in English without difficulty, but there were some strange turns of phrase! But I note that the German Wikipedia article http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celesta is titled Celesta, so any confusion there is unlikely. Andrewa (talk) 14:00, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I presume you are referring to the scoring of Jubiläum. I can check the score, but there is no doubt in my mind that when Stockhausen wanted a celesta, he would use the word "celesta" (as he does in Refrain, where glockenspiel bars and celesta are used together, and in Gruppen, where he specifies celesta as a possible substitute for keyboard glockenspiel). I might also point out that "celesta" is not actually an English word, but Stockhausen was also fluent in French and Italian. Terminological differences between different languages, and even in different parts of the world using (allegedly) the same language, frequently can cause problems where musical instruments (and especially percussion) are concerned, but I don't think this is one of them.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 17:09, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Having now consulted the score of Jubiläum, it does not specify keyboard glockenspiels, merely "2 Glockenspiele (mit Pedal)" and "1 Plattenglockenspiel". In the English version of the score preface, these names are translated as "2 glockenspiels (with pedal)" and "1 set of sound plates (or plate bells)". The French version, strangely, keeps the German term: "2 glockenspiele (avec pédale)", even though the German is the exact equivalent of the French "jeu de clochette" or "jeu de timbre" (I'm not sure which one is the source of the other). Although the glockenspiel is usually called "carillon" in French today, jeu de timbre refers to an instrument we would probably call a keyboard glockenspiel (how is that for confusing terminology?). "Plattenglockenspiel" is rendered in the French preface to Jubiläum as "jeu de cloches plaques". The score also calls for a celesta, so there is absolutely no confusion about the two instruments. However, the instrumentation list in the article on Jubiläum needs to be corrected, since it is apparent that the large pedal glockenspiel (played with mallets) is intended.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 00:17, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]