Esprit Charles Henri Ghys (17 March 1839 – 24 April 1908) was a French pianist, organist, composer and arranger of Belgian parentage, who is primarily known today as the first piano teacher of Maurice Ravel.
Ravel's biographer Arbie Orenstein related that he preserved in his library a copy of the Ghys composition Air du Roi Louis XIII "with the following dedication: 'transcribed specially for four hands, for his little pupil Maurice Ravel, by his professor Henry Ghys, Paris, August 30, 1882.
'"[5] Ravel seems to have remained in touch with Ghys even after the period of tuition: On 15 February 1892 they performed together the Andante and Variations, Op.
[7] During Ghys' lifetime, editions appeared in solo arrangements for clarinet, flute, violin, mandolin etc.
The 1888 volume of the Annuaire générale de la musique lists Ghys as a piano teacher and conductor of local brass bands in the towns of Louhans and Montret, both in the departments Saône-et-Loire.