Wood, Henry Joseph

Born Mar. 3, 1869, in London; died Aug. 19, 1944, in Hitchin, Hartfordshire. English conductor.

Wood received a doctorate in music from Oxford University in 1926 and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1886-88). He made his debut as a conductor in 1889. From 1895 until the last days of his life he directed promenade concerts, which were open to the general public, as well as so-called Sundays in London. Wood did a great deal to popularize symphonic music and develop the art of orchestral performance in Great Britain. He conducted symphony orchestras and musical festivals in many English cities. He also conducted operas and toured the USA. In 1923, Wood became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music. In his concerts he gave special attention to making known the Russian classics. (His performance of P. I. Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony was highly regarded by V. I. Lenin, who heard Wood’s concert in London.) He also tried to popularize Soviet music, especially during World War II. Wood actively advocated friendship with the USSR and conducted the works of N. la. Miaskovskii, S. S. Prokofiev, D. D. Shostakovich, A. I. Khachaturian, and other Soviet composers. Wood is the author of symphonic and choral works, arrangements for symphony orchestra, and literary works, which he signed with the pseudonym P. Klenovskii.