Max Hess (musician)

Max Hess ( born March 1, 1878 in Klingenthal; † 25 January 1975 in Boston / Massachusetts, actually Max Gustav Hess, was a German horn player, who worked in Germany and later in the U.S. He came from a resident of the Musikwinkel family. has been working for many generations in musical instruments and trading.

Hess studied 1896-1899 at the Leipzig Conservatory with Friedrich Gumpert natural horn and then switched on the valve horn.

After completing his education degree, he began his career as principal horn with the Wagner productions of Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and Frankfurt. After that he played in the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Orchestra of the Liszt community and taught at the Conservatory of Cologne.

In 1905 he went to the USA, was until 1913 principal horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and founded the Boston Symphonic Horn Quartet, which existed until the time of the First World War. From 1925 to 1937 he was principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner and taught at the Cincinnati Conservatory.

Hess was one of the horn players, who initially played only on the simple F horn and then also used the F / B double horn. He brought in 1913 the first double horns that have already been used in Europe, in the United States. He had a reputation as a very safe and careful musician.

In the period in which he was principal horn in the Gürzenich Orchestra, he contributed to the self- directed by the composer Gustav Mahler 's Fifth Symphony premiere of 18 October 1904.