Ruth Wenger
1897–1994

In the Spring of 1919 Hesse leaves definitively his family in Bern and moves to Montagnola in the Casa Camuzzi. In this period he meets the beautiful, young and fascinating singer Ruth Wenger, who in Summer moves to Carona with her parents.

Hesse soon becomes close to the Wengers, meeting them regularly. Hesse will develop a deep and lasting friendship with Ruth's mother, the writer Lisa Wenger. Hesse and Ruth meet very often either in Carona or in Zurich, where Ruth studied singing.

In 1923 Hermann Hesse dedicate to Ruth the short love story, richly illustrated, Piktors Verwandlungen. They marry in 1924, without changing much of their daily life. Although they soon become quite unhappy, they will only divorce in 1927.

In 1928 Hesse recalls Ruth with his poem Einer einstigen Geliebten [To a former Lover]:
«You celebrated the Sacrament with me
And lust appeared to you with love,
And therefore you did not unveil me,
You never revealed me the anxious riddle of your being
and confiding in love,
You always remained a mystery to me.»

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