Melos Quartet


The Melos Quartet was a much-recorded, Stuttgart-based string quartet active from 1965 until 2005, when its first violinist died. It also went by the name Melos-Quartett-Stuttgart, partly to distinguish itself from the equally prominent chamber group the Melos Ensemble of London.

Origins and activities

Melos Quartett Stuttgart was founded in October 1965 by four young members of well-known German chamber orchestras. The name Melos, an ancient Greek word for singing, and the root of the word melody, was suggested by the combination of the names Melcher and Voss, to indicate their purpose as distinct individuals seeking musical harmony together.
Leader Melcher of Hamburg studied with Erich Röhn and with both Pina Carmirelli and Arrigo Pelliccia of the Boccherini Quintet in Rome. He won the International Chamber Music Competition in Venice in 1962 and became concertmaster of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra the next year. The Voss brothers are Rhinelanders. They studied with Sandor Végh, and Hermann continued as a pupil of Ulrich Koch, becoming solo violist of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Cellist Buck is a Swabian who studied in Düsseldorf and Freiburg and with Ludwig Hoelscher in Stuttgart. Gerhard Voss and Buck were members of the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra.
The group made its début as a string quartet in January 1966. Its first recitals produced encouraging results - a grant from the "Musikleben" Foundation, assistance from the "Concerts by Young Artists" section of the German "Musikrat", participation in the Paris World Congress of the "Jeunesses Musicales", a "Prix Américain" and nomination as the best Quartet at the International Musical Competition held in Geneva; in 1967 the group won a prize in the "Heitor Villa-Lobos Quartet Competition" in Rio de Janeiro.
Very quickly engagements came and it was not long before the four members gave up their positions as solo players in various chamber orchestras becoming free-lance artists in order to concentrate entirely on their work as an ensemble. This was in September 1967. Stuttgart then became the centre of their activities and they rented a wooden hut belonging to a kindergarten, renovating it themselves before they used it as their studio. in 1969 only they gave 105 concerts throughout the world, and had their first television appearance.
They have made various tours in the Middle East, South America, as well as making appearances in all European countries, the Near East and Far East, in North America, Canada, Japan, Australia and South Africa, getting as far as Novosibirsk in Russia. They became the first West German musicians to play in Volgograd, in 1973, in concerts commemorating the events of 1943. By 1975, when the Schubert integral recordings were completed and issued, the Quartet also held a teaching post at the Stuttgart School of Music.
Among others, the Quartet collaborated with Arthur Rubinstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Georg Solti, Narciso Yepes, Piero Farulli, Gérard Caussé, Michel Portal and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
After 28 years, Gerhard Voss left the quartet in 1993 due to "irreconcilable differences of opinion" with the other members; he was replaced by Ida Bieler. A "Les Adieux" farewell tour was planned for 2005, but it was canceled due to the death of Wilhelm Melcher just before his 65th birthday, when the quartet was disbanded.

Instruments

During the period of activity, the instruments of the quartet members were:

Honors and Awards

Documentaries

The members of the Melos Quartet talk about their lives and experiences around music. As a common theme, they perform Franz Schubert's Quartet No.15 – Film by Klaus Kirschner
  • ''Interview with the Melos Quartet on Japanese TV prior to their concert with pieces by Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven. ''

Recording career

Alongside a record deal with the "Intercord Ton GmbH" label started in 1968, in 1969 the group signed a five-year contract with the "Deutsche Grammophon GmbH" record company, and spent 25 days that year making recordings for SWR radio and commercial release. They obtained the first prize of the String Quartet Foundation sponsored by German industry in 1970, and in 1972 they entered into a further contract with DGG for the complete recordings of Schubert, Cherubini, and later, the Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann and Beethoven string quartets.
By 1975 the group had built up a repertoire of 120 works, including the complete Beethoven, Schubert, Cherubini, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Janáček quartets, and works by Haydn, Mozart, Hugo Wolf, Pfitzner, Verdi, Donizetti, Debussy, Smetana, Kodály, Hindemith, Bartók, Alban Berg, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Witold Lutosławski, Milko Kelemen, Robert Wittinger and Josef Maria Horváth. They made a conscious decision to have a wide-ranging repertoire in order to avoid getting stuck to any particular period.
For Deutsche Grammophon label, they taped Schubert's String Quintet with Mstislav Rostropovich as second cellist; Mozart's 10 Great String Quartets, the complete cycles of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Cherubini and Schubert; they recorded the complete Beethoven cycle twice, and later the two Janáček's Quartets. Again for DGG, with violists Franz Beyer and Piero Farulli, they recorded the 6 String Quintets by Mozart. They taped also many unusual repertoire for SWR Radio, which has been since released digitally.
In the early 1990s the Melos-Quartett signed a second important recording contract with the "Harmonia Mundi" label, where from 1993 onwards they recorded exclusively with the new line-up featuring Ida Bieler on 2nd violin.
Violist Hermann Voss and cellist Peter Buck, are featured in the recording with the Verdi-Quartett of the 2 Quintets and the 2 Sextets for strings by Brahms.

Complete Recordings

LP & CD releases

  • BARTÓK – String Quartet No.3, Sz. 85, BB 93
  • BEETHOVEN – Die Streichquartette -Gesamtausgabe-
  • * Die frühen Streichquartette - The Early String Quartets: Op.18 Nr.1-6 / Op.14 No.1
  • * Die mittleren Streichquartette - The Middle String Quartets: Op.59 Nr.1–3 / Op.74 / Op.95
  • * Die späten Streichquartette - The Late String Quartets: Op.127 / Opp.130-133 / Op.135
  • BEETHOVEN – Die Streichquartette
  • * Die frühen Streichquartette: Op.18 Nos.1-6
  • * Die mittleren Streichquartette: Op.14 No.1 / Op.59 Nos.1–3 / Op.74 / Op.95
  • * Die späten Streichquartette: Opp.127-130-131-132-135 / "Great Fugue" Op.133
  • BOCCHERINI – Quintets for Guitar and Strings: No.4 in D major, G.448 "Fandango" / No.9 in C major, G.453 "La ritirata di Madrid" / No.7 in E minor, G.451
  • BRAHMS – String Quartets: No.3 in B-flat major, Op.67 / No.1 in C minor, Op.51/1
  • BRAHMS – Complete String Quartets: No.1 in C minor, Op.51/1 / No.2 in A minor, Op.51/2 / No.3 in B-flat major, Op.67
  • BRAHMS – String Quintet No.2 in G major, Op.111 / Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op.115
  • BRUCKNER – String Quintet in F major, WAB.112
  • BRUCKNER – String Quintet in F major, WAB.112 / Intermezzo in D minor, WAB.113
  • CHERUBINI – Complete String Quartets: No.1 in E-flat major / No.2 in C major / No.3 in D minor / No.4 in E major / No.5 in F major / No.6 in A minor
  • DEBUSSY – String Quartet in G minor, Op.10/L.85
  • DVOŘÁK – Late String Quartets: No.13 in G major, Op.106/B.192 / No.14 in A-flat major, Op.105/B.193
  • DVOŘÁK – String Quartet No.9 in D minor, Op.34/B.75 / Piano Quintet No.2 in A major, Op.81/B.155 / String Quintet No.3 in E-flat major "American", Op.97/B.180 / String Quartet No.12 in F major "American", Op.96/B.179
  • FORTNER, Wolfgang – String Quartet No.4
  • FROMM-MICHAELS, Ilse – "Musica Larga" for Clarinet and String Quartet
  • HAYDN – 4 Famous String Quartets: No.62 in C major, Op.76/3, Hob.III:77 "Emperor" / No.63 in B-flat major, Op.76/4, Hob.III:78 "Sunrise" / No.32 in C major, Op.33/3, Hob.III:39 "Bird" / No.27 in D major, Op.20/4, Hob.III:34 "Sun"
  • HAYDN – String Quartet No.63 in B-flat major, Op.76/4, Hob.III:78 "Sunrise"
  • HAYDN – String Quartet No.64 in D major, Op.76/5, Hob.III:79 "Erdödy"
  • JANÁČEK – String Quartet No.2 "Intimate Letters", JW.7/13
  • JANÁČEK – Complete String Quartets: No.1 "Kreutzer Sonata", JW.7/8 / No.2 "Intimate Letters", JW.7/13
  • KELEMEN, Milko – "Sonnets" for String Quartet
  • KODÁLY – String Quartet No.2, Op.10
  • MENDELSSOHN – Complete String Quartets: in E-flat major, oh.Op. / No.1 in E-flat major, Op.12 / No.2 in A minor, Op.13 / No.3 in D major, Op.44/1 / No.4 in E minor, Op.44/2 / No.5 in E-flat major, Op.44/3 / No.6 in F minor, Op.80 / 4 Pieces for String Quartet, Op.81
  • MOZART – Die Preussischen Quartette : No.20 in D Major, K.499 "Hoffmeister" / No.21 in D Major, K.575 / No.22 in B-flat major, K.589 / No.23 in F major, K.590
  • MOZART – Die 10 großen Streichquartette
  • * 6 Haydn-Quartets: No.14 in G major, K.387 "Spring" / No.15 in D minor, K.421/417b / No.16 in E-flat major, K.428/421b / No.17 in B-flat major, K.458 "Hunt" / No.18 in A major, K.464 / No.19 in C major, K.465 "Dissonance"
  • * Hoffmeister & 3 Prussian-Quartets: No.20 in D Major, K.499 "Hoffmeister" / No.21 in D Major, K.575 / No.22 in B-flat major, K.589 / No.23 in F major, K.590
  • MOZART – Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581 "Stadler" / 5 Fugues for String Quartet, K.405
  • MOZART – Piano Quartets: No.1 in G minor, K.478 / No.2 in E-flat major, K.493
  • MOZART – Complete String Quintets: No.1 in B-flat major, K.174 / No.2 in C minor, K.406/516b / No.3 in C major, K.515 / No.4 in G minor, K.516 / No.5 in D major, K.593 / No.6 in E-flat major, K.614
  • PFLÜGER, Hans Georg – String Quartet
  • RAVEL – String Quartet in F major, M.35
  • RAVEL – String Quartet in F major, M.35
  • SCHUBERT – Complete String Quartets: No.1 in G minor|B-flat major, D.18 / No.2 in C major, D.32 / No.3 in B-flat major, D.36 / No.4 in C major, D.46 / No.5 in B-flat major, D.68 / No.6 in D major, D.74 / No.7 in D major, D.94 / Quartet Movement in C minor, D.103 / No.8 in B-flat major, D.112 / No.9 in G minor, D.173 / No.10 in E-flat major D.87 / No.11 in E major D.353 / No.12 in C minor, D.703 "Quartettsatz" / No.13 in A minor, D.804 "Rosamunde" / No.14 in D minor, D.810 "Death and the Maiden" / No.15 in G major, D.887
  • SCHUBERT – String Quartets: No.13 in A minor, D.804 "Rosamunde" / No.14 in D minor, D.810 "Death and the Maiden"
  • SCHUBERT – The Late String Quartets: No.12 in C minor, D.703 "Quartettsatz" / No.13 in A minor, D.804 "Rosamunde" / No.14 in D minor, D.810 "Death and the Maiden" / No.15 in G major, D.887
  • SCHUBERT – String Quintet in C major, D.956
  • SCHUBERT – String Quintet in C major, D.956
  • SCHUMANN – Complete String Quartets: No.1 in A minor, Op.41/1 / No.2 in F major, Op.41/2 / No.3 in A major, Op.41/3
  • SIBELIUS – String Quartet in D minor, Op.56 "Voces intimae"
  • SMETANA – String Quartet No.1 in E minor "From my Life"
  • VERDI – String Quartet in E minor
  • WEINER, Leó – String Quartet No.3 Op.26
  • WOLF – "Italian Serenade" in G minor, for String Quartet

Digital releases

Exact recording dates are unknown, but traceable from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s. Source: SWR Classic Archive / Presto Classical Ltd. | Provided to YouTube by NAXOS of America.
  • ARRIAGA – String Quartet No.3 in E-flat major
  • BARTÓK – String Quartet No.1, Op.7, Sz. 40, BB 52
  • BOSE, Hans-Jūrgen von – String Quartet No.2
  • CHERUBINI – String Quartets: No.2 in C major / No.4 in E major
  • DVOŘÁK – String Quartet No.14 in A-flat major, Op.105, B.193
  • HAYDN – String Quartets: No.16 in A major, Op.9/6, Hob.III:24 / No.7 in A major, Op.2/1, Hob.III:7 / No.19 in C minor, Op.17/4, Hob.III:28
  • HAYDN – String Quartet No.66 in G major, Op.76/1, Hob.III:81 “Lobkowitz”
  • HAYDN / attrib. Roman Hoffstetter – String Quartets ': in B-Flat major, Op.3/4, Hob.III:16 / in A major, Op.3/6, Hob.III:18
  • HINDEMITH – String Quartets: No.3 ' in C major, Op.16 / No.5 , Op.32
  • KELEMEN, Milko – "Sonnets" for String Quartet
  • KOKKONEN, Joonas – String Quartet No.2
  • MOZART – String Quartet No.22, in B-flat major K.589
  • MOZART – Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581 "Stadler"
  • REGER – String Quartet No.4 in E-flat major, Op.109
  • SHOSTAKOVICH – String Quartets: No.8 in C minor, Op.110 / No.10 in A-flat major, Op.118
  • STRAVINSKY – 3 Pieces for String Quartet
  • VERDI – String Quartet in E minor
  • WEILL – String Quartet in B minor
  • WEINER, Leó – String Quartet No.3 in G Major, Op.26
  • WITTINGER, Róbert – String Quartet No.3, Op.20
  • ZEMLINSKY – String Quartet No.3, Op.19