Lionel Tertis

Lionel Tertis was a famous music player.

He played the viola. This is a wooden instrument. He was one of the first to be known all over the world for it.

He liked the sound of a large viola. He even made his own model to play. He found a special old viola in Paris. It had no strings or bridge. His wife helped him carry it home in her coat!

Lionel also helped other people make music. He asked writers to write new songs for the viola. This gave the instrument many more songs to play.

He was a great teacher, too. He taught many students how to play well. He spent much of his life helping others learn.

People still honor him today. They even have a contest for viola players in his name.

Lionel Tertis was a famous English violist.

He was one of the first to gain fame playing the viola. This is a wooden string instrument. He was born to Polish-Jewish immigrants. At first, he played the piano. Later, he studied the violin. A teacher told him to try the viola instead. This choice changed his whole life. He became a great soloist. He toured through Europe and the US.

Tertis loved a rich sound. He liked large violas. He once found a very old one in Paris. It had no strings or bridge. It was so big that his wife wrapped it in her coat to carry it home! He later made his own model. This model was a good size to hold.

He also helped other musicians. He asked composers to write new music for the viola. Great writers like Gustav Holst wrote for him. He also taught many students. In 1937, he retired from big shows to teach more. People still honor him today. They hold a contest in his name. A blue plaque marks his home in London.

Lionel Tertis was a famous English violist who changed how people heard his instrument.

He was one of the first players to achieve international fame. This made the viola feel special to audiences everywhere. He was born in West Hartlepool to Polish-Jewish immigrants. His musical journey began with the piano. At thirteen, he left home to work as a pianist. He later studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music. A teacher or a fellow student encouraged him to try the viola instead. This simple suggestion changed the entire course of his life. He soon became a world-famous soloist touring Europe and the US.

Tertis worked hard to make the viola sound better.

He loved a very rich and deep tone. To get this sound, he preferred using large instruments. In 1920, he found a 1717 Montagnana viola in Paris. It was in very poor condition when he saw it. It had no strings, no bridge, and no fingerboard. The instrument was 17 1/8 inches wide, which is quite large. It was so big that there was no case for it. His wife helped by wrapping it in her waterproof coat. They carried it across the English Channel that way. He kept this special instrument until 1937.

He also helped create new music for his instrument.

As a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, he taught many students. He asked famous composers to write pieces just for the viola. This helped grow the repertoire, which is the collection of music available. Many great names wrote for him, including Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He also worked with Arnold Bax and William Walton. Walton even wrote a Viola Concerto for him. Although Paul Hindemith gave the first performance, Tertis played it in Liège. He performed the concerto five more times over three years.

Tertis was a busy musician with many different roles.

He played in groups like the Bohemian Quartet and the Walenn Quartet. He also formed the Chamber Music Players with several other musicians. In 1937, he decided to retire from big concerts. He wanted to focus his energy on teaching instead. He performed one last time in 1949 to raise money. This money helped encourage more people to write viola music. For his hard work, he was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. This honor arrived in the 1950 New Year's Honours.

Today, people still remember the great impact of Lionel Tertis.

A special contest was started in 1980 to honor his memory. Musicians also started "The Tertis Project" in 2007 to play his music. In 2015, a blue plaque was put on his home in Wimbledon. This plaque helps people remember where he lived. He lived a very long life and died in 1975 at age 98. His many students became famous violists themselves. He left behind a huge legacy for all string players to enjoy.

Lionel Tertis was a legendary English violist who transformed the musical world.

He was one of the first performers to achieve true international fame on the viola. Before he became a master of the viola, he began his musical life on the piano. Born in West Hartlepool to Polish-Jewish immigrants, he left home at age thirteen to earn a living as a pianist. He eventually moved to London to study at Trinity College of Music. There, he took violin lessons from B.M. Carrodus while continuing piano studies with R. W. Lewis. In 1895, he entered the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) to study violin under Hans Wessely. His path changed forever when he was encouraged to switch to the viola. This shift allowed him to become a world-renowned soloist touring Europe and the United States.

Tertis was obsessed with the quality of sound produced by his instrument. He sought an especially rich and deep tone. To achieve this, he preferred using much larger violas. In 1920, he discovered a 1717 Montagnana viola during a concert tour in Paris. The instrument was in a nearly unplayable state when he found it. It lacked a bridge, strings, and a fingerboard. Because the instrument was 17 1/8 inches wide, no standard case could fit it. To transport it across the English Channel, his wife wrapped the large instrument in her waterproof coat. He owned this remarkable Montagnana from 1920 until 1937. He eventually sold it to his student, Bernard Shore.

To balance tone quality with playability, Tertis helped innovate instrument design. He knew that a 17 1/8-inch instrument might be too large for some musicians to handle comfortably. Consequently, he created his own "Tertis model" of viola. This specific model was 16 3/4 inches in size. It was designed to provide the tonal advantages of a larger instrument while remaining manageable. This innovation helped other players access the rich sounds he loved. His work with instrument models ensured his tonal preferences could be shared by others.

As a Professor of Viola at the RAM starting in 1900, Tertis worked to expand the viola's repertoire. The repertoire is the total collection of musical pieces written for a specific instrument. He actively encouraged his colleagues and students to compose new music for the viola. This effort led many famous composers to write specifically for him. His collaborators included Arnold Bax, Frank Bridge, Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He also worked with Benjamin Dale, York Bowen, Arthur Bliss, and William Walton. These composers helped move the viola from a supporting role to a solo spotlight.

One of the most significant pieces written for him was the Walton Viola Concerto. Interestingly, Tertis did not perform the world premiere of this work. He found the concerto difficult to comprehend at that specific time. The honor of the first performance went to the composer Paul Hindemith. However, Tertis did eventually perform it. He gave his first performance of the work a month after the premiere at the International Society for Contemporary Music festival in Liège. Over the next three years, he gave five additional performances of the concerto. His student, Bernard Shore, performed the work at the Proms in August 1930.

Tertis maintained a very active professional life through various musical groups. He briefly joined the famous Bohemian Quartet in 1906 to replace Oskar Nedbal. He also held a position in the Walenn Quartet. He formed the Chamber Music Players alongside William Murdoch, Albert Sammons, and Lauri Kennedy. He also coached Sidney Griller, who went on to found the Griller Quartet in 1928. Beyond performing, Tertis was a prolific writer and arranger. He composed original works like "Elizabethan Melody" and "The Blackbirds." He also arranged famous pieces for the viola, such as Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. He even wrote books about his life and string playing, including "Cinderella No More."

His impact on the musical community is still recognized today. In 1937, he retired from the concert stage to focus entirely on teaching. He performed one final solo concert in 1949 at the RAM to raise money for a fund. This fund was intended to encourage further composition for the viola. In 1950, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Since his death in 1975 at age 98, his legacy has continued through many channels. The Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition was established in 1980. In 2015, English Heritage placed a blue plaque on his former home in Wimbledon. His influence lives on through "The Tertis Project," which celebrates the music he helped inspire.