Violinists Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof were forced to leave Vienna for London because of their Jewish origin after Hitler's Anschluss of 1938. When World War II broke out they were sent to internment camps because they were "enemy aliens" (foreigners from a country that Britain was fighting against). The three violinists met up in camp and spent a lot of time playing music together. Soon they were set free because they were "distinguished artists" (actually they were unknown at the time). They studied with violin teacher Max Rostal, who taught them free of charge. Another student of Rostal was Suzanne Rozsa, who was married to the cellist Martin Lovett. Peter Schidlof changed to playing the viola, and they played string quartets together. In 1947 they formed the Brainin Quartet. Nissel then thought of the name "Amadeus Quartet". He thought it sounded better than calling the group by the name of the first violinist. The quartet was renamed the Amadeus Quartet in 1948 (Amadeus was one of Mozart's names).