Willy Hess was a German violinist, violist, and music teacher. He was born in Mannheim on July 14, 1859, and died in Berlin on February 17, 1939. The son of a violinist who had studied with Louis Spohr, he received his first musical training from his father. In 1865, he toured the United States as a child performer with Theodore Thomas's orchestra. He moved to the Netherlands in 1872 and completed his musical education in Berlin from 1876 to 1878 under Joseph Joachim.
From 1878 to 1886, Hess was concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra. During that period, he also played in a piano trio with James Kwast and Hugo Becker. He was concertmaster of an orchestra in Rotterdam and a professor at the Rotterdam Conservatory from 1886 to 1888. From 1888 to 1895, he served as concertmaster of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester; his students there included Arthur Catterall.
Hess was a professor at the Cologne Conservatory from 1895 to 1903. His students there included Adolf Busch. In Cologne, he formed a piano trio with Max von Pauer and Heinrich Grünfeld and led a string quartet with Willy Seibert, Joseph Schwarz, and Friedrich Grützmacher Jr. He then taught for one academic year at the Royal Academy of Music in London. From 1904 to 1910, he was concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, taught at Harvard University, and led a string quartet whose members included Heinrich Warnke and later Alvin Schroeder. Arthur Foote dedicated his Ballade for violin and piano (1910) to Hess.
Hess settled in Berlin in 1910 and became a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. His students there included Georg Kulenkampff, Tossy Spivakovsky, Arthur Fiedler, Nikos Skalkottas, Henry Temianka, Albert Stessel, Henry Holst, and Paul Godwin. He also performed as a soloist on both violin and viola. In the final years of Max Bruch's life, Hess worked closely with him: Bruch wrote a Concert Piece for violin and orchestra for Hess in 1910, and Hess took part in the 1912 premiere of the first version of Bruch's Concerto for clarinet and viola with orchestra. Hess played Bruch's violin concerto in the first part of that program, then changed from violin to viola for the second. He retired in 1928.