As a founding member of the famed Melos Quartet Stuttgart until 1993, Gerhard Ernst Voss was one of the leading chamber musicians of Germany, and a noted teacher of violin and chamber music. He and his older brother, violist Hermann Voss, studied music in Düsseldorf and Freiburg. Gerhard went on to study at Cologne, where his teacher was Marschner. Gerhard joined the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, where cellist Peter Buck was already a member. Wilhelm Melcher was a violinist who in 1962 had won first prize in the International Chamber Music Competition in Venice and in 1963 became the concertmaster of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. He was looking to form a string quartet, and enlisted Buck, Gerhard Voss, and Gerhard's brother Hermann, who was the principal violist of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. The Melos Quartet Stuttgart was formed in 1965 and immediately began to establish a strong reputation as one of the best new quartets. In 1966 it won the prize for Best Quartet at the Geneva International Competition and a prize at the Villa-Lobos String Quartet Competition in Rio de Janeiro, then was chosen to represent West Germany in the Jeunesses Musicales (Musical Youth) festival in Paris the same year. The Deutsches Musikleben foundation sponsored the Melos Quartet on its first tours. All four members resigned from their orchestral positions in order to become a full-time professional quartet and as such they have ever since pursued an active international touring and recording career. They made their first integral recording of the Beethoven string quartets from 1968 to 1970. Their extensive catalogue of recordings is mainly on the Deutsche Grammophon label, with some issues on Harmonia Mundi. In 1993 Gerhard Voss retired from the Melos Quartet, continuing his teaching activities. His replacement as second violinist is Ida Bieler. For recommended recordings see the entry under Melos Quartet Stuttgart.