Robert Masters was born on March 16, 1917, in Ilford, Essex, of Anglo-French descent. He was 16 when he entered the Royal Academy of Music and in 1938 played Bach’s Double Violin Concerto there with Bohdan Hubicki under the baton of Sir Henry Wood.

In 1939, while studying at Dartington Hall, he formed the Robert Masters Piano Quartet with Muriel Taylor (cello), Nannie Jamieson (viola) and Kinloch Anderson (piano). It was soon attracting favourable attention for its repertoire, stretching from Mozart to Herbert Howells, and was heard at the Wigmore Hall and, after the war, the Edinburgh Festival. The quartet had world tours in 1950 and 1956 before disbanding in 1963.