Home > Willy Hess (violinist)

Born in Mannheim, Germany, he is the most famous student of Joseph Joachim. He also studied with his father, who was a pupil of Spohr, and Joachim.

From 1904 to 1910 he was the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and taught violin at Harvard University. He also spent time as the leader of the Hallé Orchestra, and as concertmaster in Frankfurt and Rotterdam. He then relocated to Berlin in 1910 to take the position of premier violin instructor at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin, Germany (Berlin Hochschule fur Musik). Composer Max Bruch, a friend of Hess, helped arrange Hess’ appointment as professor. During the time of the Weimar Republic the Hochschule was the hub of the international music scene, and Hess was associated with many of the musical luminaries of his day and taught students who came to Berlin from all over the world. It is now known as the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.

Hess taught a German style of right hand technique which emphasized wrist motion with very little finger motion.

He had no difficulty alternating between the violin and violaString instruments Alternate uses: Viola (disambiguation The viola is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass and performed the viola part of the first performance of Max Bruch’s Double Concerto for clarinet, viola and orchestra, op. 88. It was also in 1910 that Bruch composed the Concert Piece for violin and orchestra, op. 84, for Hess. Hess advised Bruch on composing for strings, and also performed the premières of other works by Bruch. Among works by other composers written for Hess was Arthur W. Foote ’s Op. 69, "Ballade".

He played in a piano trioA piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, almost always a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musici with cellist Hugo Becker and pianist Daniel Quast .

One of the instruments that Hess played on was a GuadagniniGuadagnini, Joannes Baptista, a. Guadagnini 1711 1786, was one of the greatest makers of violins and other string instruments in history. His instruments are often referred to as "poor man's Strads" which alludes to the work of Antonio Stradivari, who is.

Hess died in BerlinBerlin [ bɛrˈliːn ] is the national capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,387,404 inhabitants (as of September 2004); down from 4. 5 million before World War II. Berlin is located on the rivers Spree and Havel in the northea.

Some of Hess’ notable students

• Arthur FiedlerArthur Fiedler ( December 17, 1894 July 10, 1979) was the long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specialized in popular entertainment more than "fine art". With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made th
• composer Nikos Skalkottas
• American violinist Philip Newman
• Canadian violinist Harold SumbergHarold Sumberg (1905-1994) is a Canadian violinist, teacher, conductor, and adjudicator. He studied violin with Carl Markees, Henry Holst, and Willy Hess at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin (now the Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler). Sumberg taught for
• Adolf BuschAdolf Georg Wilhelm Busch ( August 8, 1891 June 9, 1952) was a German-born violinist and composer. Busch was born in the town of Siegen in Westphalia. He studied at the Cologne Conservatorie and at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin with Willy Hess.
• Martin Spanjaard
• Ernest Carl Oberholtzer