Tertis was born in
West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants. Tertis's first instrument was the piano, and at thirteen he left home to earn a living as a pianist. In 1892 he had saved enough money to enter
Trinity College of Music in London, where he had violin lessons under B.M. Carrodus, whilst continuing to learn the piano under R. W. Lewis for three intermittent terms. In 1895, after six months at Leipzig Conservatorium, Tertis entered the
Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London and studied the violin under
Hans Wessely. In 1897, whilst at the RAM, he was encouraged by the principal,
Alexander Mackenzie, to take up the viola instead. Under the additional influence of
Oskar Nedbal, he did so and rapidly became one of the best-known violists of his time, touring Europe and the US as a soloist. As Professor of Viola at the RAM (from 1900), he encouraged his colleagues and students to compose for the instrument, thereby greatly expanding its repertoire. In 1906, Tertis was temporarily in the famous
Bohemian Quartet to replace the violist/composer Oskar Nedbal and later he took the viola position in the
Walenn Quartet. Composers such as
Arnold Bax,
Frank Bridge,
Gustav Holst,
Benjamin Dale,
York Bowen,
Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Arthur Bliss,
Arnold Trowell and
William Walton wrote pieces for him. The Walton piece was his
Viola Concerto; however, Tertis did not give the world premiere as he found it difficult to comprehend at the time; that honour went to
Paul Hindemith. His pupil
Bernard Shore took on the second performance at the
Proms in August 1930. Tertis first performed the work a month later at the International Society for Contemporary Music festival in Liège. Over the next three years he gave five more performances of the concerto. He owned a 1717
Montagnana from 1920 to 1937 which he found during one of his concert tours to Paris in 1920, and took a chance in acquiring. According to his memoirs, it was "shown to me in an unplayable condition, without bridge, strings or fingerboard.... No case was available – it was such a large instrument 17 1/8 inches – so my wife came to the rescue by wrapping it in her waterproof coat, and that is how it was taken across the English Channel." Tertis preferred a large viola to get an especially rich tone from his instrument. Knowing that some would find a 17-1/8-inch instrument too large he created his own Tertis model, which provides many of the tonal advantages of the larger instrument in a manageable 16-3/4-inch size. Tertis sold the 1717 Montagnana to his pupil Bernard Shore in 1937, who in turn passed it on to his pupil
Roger Chase. Along with
William Murdoch (piano),
Albert Sammons, and
Lauri Kennedy, Tertis formed the
Chamber Music Players. He also encouraged and coached
Sidney Griller as he worked to found the
Griller Quartet in 1928, and influenced the Griller's enthusiasm for the
first Viennese School. In November 1934, Tertis performed
Strauss's
Don Quixote with
Pablo Casals (who incidentally shared the same birth date as Tertis) at the
Queen's Hall, with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir
Henry Wood. In 1937, while at the height of his powers, he announced his retirement from the concert platform to concentrate on teaching. He appeared as soloist only one more time, at a special concert in 1949 to an invited audience at the RAM to help raise money for his fund to encourage the composition of music for the viola. He was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1950 New Year's Honours. Tertis composed several original works and also
arranged many pieces not originally for the viola, such as
Edward Elgar's
Cello Concerto. He was the author of a number of publications about string playing, the viola in particular, and his own life. They include
Cinderella No More and
My Viola and I. Lionel Tertis died on 22 February 1975 in
Wimbledon, London. He was 98 years old. ==Legacy==