“For me piano-playing and writing poetry have always been closely connected”, wrote Siegfried Sassoon, and the instrument’s “emotionally enrichening companionship” remained essential throughout his life.  He acknowledged music to have been “the handmaid of the muse” from his very earliest verse.

Siegfried was born into an artistic and musical milieu.  His father (who died when he was eight) was a serious violinist, a ‘brilliant player’ who had studied with Sarasate and owned two Strads, while he owed his own Christian name to his mother’s passion for Wagner’s Ring.  Early piano lessons were followed by organ study at Marlborough and, although he was always modest about his keyboard attainments, a priority after the war was the purchase by instalments of a grand piano.

Bach, Beethoven and Schumann were lifelong enthusiasms and his keen interest in contemporary music was reflected in friendships with the composers Elgar, Berners, Lambert and Walton. (The latter’s Portsmouth Point Overture is dedicated to him.)

The Museum holds eight volumes of piano music from Sassoon’s library, illustrating his broad and cultivated taste and considerable technical ability.  To mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death we show here a small sample of the contents.