THE BUSCH QUARTET was, to all intents and purposes, founded in 1912, although for its first six years it was the official ensemble of the Vienna Konzertverein Orchestra under the title Vienna Konzertverein Quartet. In the summer of 1912 the position of first leader of the orchestra fell vacant and Busch was recommended by numerous people, among them the principal viola Karl Doktor and principal cello Paul Grummer. The conductor Ferdinand Lowe and the directors of the new Konzerthaus wanted to start a quartet, based on the orchestral principals; and as Busch was known to be planning his own ensemble, it seemed an ideal arrangement. Although in the event the leader gradually scaled down his work with the orchestra, he made a considerable impact on Viennese musical life with the Quartet. He accepted Doktor and Grummer – despite initial misgivings about the violist – but brought in Fritz Rothschild as second violinist. After intensive rehearsals, the Vienna Konzertverein Quartet were first heard on 25 May 1913, playing Haydn on an outing to Eisenstadt. Their official debut came on 3 August at Lilli Lehmann's Salzburg Festival – Busch's leadership having aroused considerable expectations – with Beethoven's F major Quartet, Op. 59, No. 1, and Schumann's A minor, Op. 41, No. 1: critics compared them with the Joachim Quartet. The concerts which followed were equally successful but just before the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914, Rothschild was dismissed; early in 1915 Doktor was called up; and a year later the replacement second violinist Emil Hauser was also commandeered by the army. Busch and Grummer, both unfit for military service, kept the Quartet going until the end of the 1916–17 season, using various players (at one stage the second violinist was Alfred Klietmann, at another Alphonse Brun). It is known that Doktor was not always available, but no evidence has come to light about substitute violists: Ernst Groell may have been one. No string-quartet concerts have been discovered from the 1917–18 season – as Doktor performed piano quartets with the Lowe-Busch-Grummer Trio, it may be that the lack of a good regular second violinist kept the Quartet dormant.