(b Dundît, 14 April 1896; d Cairo, 29 March 1973). Egyptian musicologist. He was sent by his father to Berlin to study medicine; he later studied under Curt Sachs at the Hochschule für Musik, taking the doctorate with a dissertation on Ibn Sīnā. Returning to Egypt in 1930, he immediately became involved with preparations for the 1932 Cairo Conference and was responsible for the publication of the proceedings. In 1935 he founded the journal al-Mūsīqā (later al-Majalla al-Mūsīqiyya), and in 1949 he launched al-Mūsīqā wa-al-Masrah; he wrote frequently (often unsigned) in both publications.
El Hefny was the first Egyptian to work on the rediscovery of Pharaonic music; he also focussed on the history of Arab music and Egyptian popular and folk music and published the first overview of Western music in Arabic. He also wrote for pedagogical purposes, and this was probably his best contribution to the field of musicology. From 1931 to 1952, as inspector of music for the Egyptian Ministry of Education, he was one of the most important figures in Egyptian music. After the 1952 revolution, his official importance declined, but he maintained his importance as a distinguished musicologist and was invited to many musicological conferences throughout the Arab world. His writings are characterized by their simple language, often unadorned by references or critical apparatus; his books are hence written for the general reader.
Ashhar Mashāhīr al-Mūsīqā al-Gharbiyya Qadīman wa-Hadīthan [The most famous Western composers, ancient and modern] (Berlin, 1923)
Ibn Sina's Musiklehre (diss., Hochschule für Musik, Berlin, 1930; Berlin, 1931)
with R. Lachmann: Ja‘qūb Ishāq al-Kindī: Risālah fi khubr ta'līf al-Alhān/Über die Kompositionen der Melodien (Leipzig, 1931)
Mūsīqā Qudamā' al-Misriyyīn [Music in Ancient Egypt] (Cairo, 1936, 2/1992)
Suwar min al-Tārīkh al-Mūsīqā [Pictures from the history of music] (Cairo, 1937)
al-Mūsīqā al-Nazariyya [The theory of music] (Cairo, 1938, 6/1972)
Mutsart qissat al-Tifl al-Mu‘jiz wa-al-Mūsīqī al-‘Aqbarī [Mozart: the story of the miraculous child and the genius musician] (Cairo, 1939, 2/1952)
al-Mūsīqā fī Kalamāt [Music in words] (Cairo, 1943)
Bituhfan [Beethoven] (Cairo, 1944, 2/1952)
with M. Rida Bey: Dirāsat al-Qānūn [A method for the qānūn] (Cairo, 1945)
Tabsīt Dirāsat al-Mūsīqā [Simplification of the study of music] (Cairo, 1945)
with ‘A. al-M. ‘Arafah: al-Alhān al-Mukhtāra lil-Mūsīqā al-‘Arabiyya [Selected melodies from Arab music] (Cairo, 1945)
A‘lām al-Gharb [Western composers] (Cairo, 1947, 2/1951)
Firdrik Shūban [Chopin] (Cairo, 1949)
Firdrik Smitānā [Smetana] (Cairo, 1950)
al-Mūsīqā al-‘Arabiyya wa A‘lāmuhā min al-Jāhiliyya ilā al-Andalus [Arab music and its distinguished musicians, from pre-Islamic times to the al-Andalus] (Beirut, 1951, 3/1987)
Mūsīqā al-Mamālik al-Qadīma [Music in ancient kingdoms] (Cairo, 1951, 2/1972)
Sayyid Darwīsh: Hayātuhu wa-Athar ‘Abqariyatihi [Sayyid Sarwish: his life and genius] (Cairo, 1955, 2/1974)
Ägyptische Musik von Einst bis heute (Cairo, 1956)
ed., with others: Turāthunā al-mūsīqī al Juz’ al-Awwal min al-Adwār wa-l-Muwashshahāt [Our musical heritage, first part: from adwār to muwashshahāt] (Cairo, 1958) [incl. ‘al-Qism al-Tārīkhī’ [The historical section], i, 19–88]
Ishāq al-Mawsilī al-Mūsīqār al-Nadīm [Ishāq al-Mawsilī, the musician and companion] (Cairo, 1964, 2/1985)
ed.: Risālat al-Kindī fī ajzā’ Khabariyya fī al-Mūsīqā [Tracts of al-Kindī concerning concise information on music] (Cairo, 1965)
Ziryāb Abū al-Hasan ‘Alī Ibn Nāfi‘ Mūsīqār al-Andalus [Ziryāb, musician of al-Andalus] (Cairo, 1966)
ed., with G.‘A.M. Khashabah: al-Fārābī: Kitāb al-Mūsīqī al-Kabīr [The great book on music] (Cairo, 1967)
al-Mūsīqiyyān al-Asmān: Baythufan wa-Smitānā [Two deaf composers: Beethoven and Smetana] (Cairo, 1969)
‘Ilm al-Ālāt al-Mūsīqiyya [The science of musical instruments] (Cairo, 1971, 3/1987)
RiemannL12
M. al-S. al-Muwaylihī: ‘al-Duktūr Mahmūd Ahmad al-Hifnī’, al-Majalla al-Mūsīqiyya, xlix (1938), 9–11
S. el Kohly: ‘al-Duktūr Mahmūd Ahmad al-Hifnī Dhikrayāt wa-Khawātir’ [Remembrances and ideas], al-Majalla al-Mūsīqiyya, i (1974), 8–9
CHRISTIAN POCHÉ