Your chance to 'adopt' Holst's famous piano

THE piano which Gustav Holst used to compose his orchestral suite The Planets has been put up for ‘adoption’.

- LAUREN BEAVIS

The famous piano - described as a “finely crafted instrument still tuned and playable today” - is the centerpiece of a new ‘Adopt an Object’ scheme launched by The Holst Victorian House, in Cheltenham.

The scheme has been launched to celebrate the museum’s golden anniversary as well as to raise vital funds to protect its historic building and support education and outreach work in the composer's birthplace.

Martin Renshaw, co-chair of the Holst Birthplace Trust, said the fee for adopting Holst’s piano - what he called “the jewel in the crown” ~ would be £3,000 for the year.

He said: “This is the jewel in our collection, Gustav’s Thaxted piano, on which, along with his Broadwood piano at St Paul’s Girls’ School, he composed The Planets.

“Tt is tuned and maintained so it can still be played (under controlled conditions!).

“Holst bought the piano secondhand in 1913 for £12, selecting it for its light touch because of the neuritis in his right arm.