Rose was born in Jassy, Romania. In his late teens he converted to Catholicism. Rose became concertmaster of the Vienna Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic at the young age of 18 (1881). He stayed in that position for over fifty years (1938). Rose was active in other musical enssambles and in 1982 he founded, with others, the Rose String Quartet which achieved noteriety throughout the western world. He also taught at the Vienna State Academy of Music until 1924. After the Anschluss, Rose fled to England (1938). He was married to Gustav Mahler’s sister Justine. His brother and his daughter, also musicians, died in a Nazi concentration camp.