Yusef Greiss was an Egyptian

Egyptians

Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...

 composer of classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, part of that nation's first generation of such composers.

Greiss was of Coptic

Copt

The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....

 heritage. He composed orchestral works and chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

. His patriotic work for orchestra entitled Masr (1932) is considered the first orchestral piece composed by an Egyptian.

As of 2008, the Egyptian musicologist Haig Avakian is editing and preparing Greiss's complete works for publication.

Performance

Solo violin and piano compositions are major parts in Greise’s compositions.

He wrote 23 solo piano compositions,

14 solo violin three solo flute,

six lyrical compositions with piano

and 10 orchestra compositions.

His Works

First: Solo piano compositions

• The Sudanese, 1932
• Nile Boatman, 1932
• La Galerien , 1932
• Good Luck, 1932
• A Boat Burns, 1932
• How Are You,1932
• Truth, 1932
• Little Palestinian, 1932
• Happiness, 1932
• A Night in the Boat,1945

Second: Solo violin compositions

• The Bedouin No. 1931 of 1932
• The Egyptian Village, No. 22 of 1932
• Dance of the Palm Valley
• Souvenir, No. 25 of 1932.
• Son of the Valley, 1943
• Bedouin Singing, 1944
• Company of the Nile 1944,
• Desert Songs, 1944
• Sphinx and Violin, 1947
• Daughter of Pyramids, 1961

Third: Violin and piano compositions

• We Dance, 1928
• Forest, 1929
• On Bank of the Nile, 1931
• The Carrier of Water, 1931
• Greetings to Vienna, 1931
• Dance of Palm Trees, 1932
• In the Desert, 1932
• Murrmering Scarabee, 1944
• Romance, 1945
• The Nile Sings, 1950

Fourth: Solo flute compositions

• Echo of the Desert, 1944
• Echo of the Valley, 1944
• Echo of the Nile, 1944

Fifth : Solo cello compositions

• The Man Peasent, 1922

Sixth : Cello and piano compositions

• The Woman Peasent, 1923

Seventh : Lyrical compositions with piano

• Song of the Valley, 1943.

• Boat of Fate, 1944

• Dance of the Nile, 1944

• Song of the Shepherd, 1944

• The Nile’s Song and Call, 1944

• Dance of the Village, 1944

Eighth : Orchestral compositions

• Egypt, Symphony, 1932

• The Carrier of Water, 1932

• Toward Desert Monastery, Symphony, 1934

• The Nile and Rose, Symphony, 1943

• Pharos’ Pyramids, Symphony, 1960

Most of his compositions remained unpublished up to now.

On the Day of Art in 1981, the state honored and listed him in the Record of Immortals in the Arts Academy.

See also

• List of Egyptian composers