Martin Lovett ‑ an English cellist, best known for his work for 40 years with the Amadeus Quartet, one of the leading string quartets at the time – passed away due to Covid-19 complications on 29 April 2020.
Lovett was born in Stoke Newington (north-east London) on 3 March 1927. When he was 11, his father, a cellist with the Hallé Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, gave him his first lessons. At age 15, he won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London.
He joined the Amadeus Quartet at the age of 19, in 1947, with violinists Norbert Brainin and Siegmund Nissel, and violist Peter Schidlof. He was the only English player in the quartet of otherwise Austrian refugees. They remained together for 40 years, until the ...