William Primrose, only in his early thirties, ranks with Lionel Tertis as one of the finest viola players in the world. He first studied the violin under Cammillo Ritter in Glasgow and showed such extraordinary talent that when he was sixteen he gained a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music, where he became a protege of Sir Landon Ronald. From 1925 Primrose studied under Ysaye who advised Primrose to change over to the viola-advice that Primrose took when Waldo Warner resigned from the London String Quartet.
Since then he has carried on the excellent work of Tertis to popularise the instrument that Berlioz called the Cinderella of the string family. The London String Quartet is no more, but Primrose has shown nearly every musical centre of the world that the viola deserves its place amongst other accepted solo instruments.