Willy Hess

Willy Hess (Winterthur, 1906 – Winterthur, 1997) was a Swiss musicologist and composer whose work revolves around Beethoven. He trained in piano and music theory at the Zurich Conservatory, and also studied musicology at the University of Zurich between 1926 and 1929. He completed his training in Berlin during the following academic year, before resuming piano lessons with Walter Frey.

Between 1942 and 1971 he played the bassoon in the Winterthur City Orchestra, an activity he combined with teaching, composition, music criticism and research. His principal work focused on tracking down unknown works by Beethoven. In 1957 he published a catalogue of compositions that did not appear in the complete edition, and over the course of his career he produced more than four hundred publications on the composer. Between 1959 and 1971 he edited fourteen volumes of supplements to that complete edition, in addition to numerous editions of individual works.

His writings also cover musical form, the work of Bruckner, modern music and, more tangentially, the figure of the Swedish explorer of Asia Sven Hedin. As a composer, he left a substantial number of tonal works inspired by classical models.

Hess's importance lies above all in his philological labour: he brought to light Beethoven material that had until then remained unpublished, and he left research tools that remain a reference for those who study the composer from Bonn.