The viola, larger and deeper-toned than the violin but lacking the cello's sonority, used to be something of a Cinderella instrument until Lionel Tertis released its magic.

He was among the first to make the viola an accepted solo instrument in its own right.

After studying at Leipzig and playing as an orchestral principal viola, he went solo and was in great demand in chamber music.

Tertis was one of a select band of musicians who used to meet, before the First World War, at the London house of society hostess Muriel Draper.

In her music room, Jacques Thibaud, Tertis, Pablo Casals, Artur Rubinstein and others would play for sheer pleasure until dawn.

In his memoirs, Tertis declared "no public performances could have ever reached such a pitch of carefree, rapturous inspiration".

Several composers wrote works for Tertis and he made various transcriptions for his instrument. He died in 1975, aged 98.

-Roger Moodiman, Marine Parade, Brighton