Hood, Mantle
Hood, Mantle
Hood, Mantle, American ethnomusicologist and composer; b. Springfield, 111., June 24, 1918. He studied composition privately with Toch (1945–50), and was enrolled at the Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles (B.A., 1951; M.A. in composition, 1951). He then continued his studies at the Univ. of Amsterdam (Ph.D., 1954, with the diss. The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of Patet in Javanese Music; publ, in Groningen, 1954). In 1954 he joined the faculty at the Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles, becoming a full prof, there in 1962 and in 1961 was appointed director of its Inst. of Ethnomusicology. In 1956-57 he traveled to Indonesia on a Ford Foundation fellowship, and in 1976 received a Fulbright fellowship for study in India. In 1976 he became an adjunct prof, at the Univ. of Md.; in 1977 was a visiting prof, at Yale Univ. and at Wesleyan Univ. He publ. The Ethnomusicologist (N.Y, 1971; 2nd ed., rev., 1982) and The Paragon of the Roaring Sea (Wilhelmshaven and N.Y, 1988), and also contributed valuable articles on oriental music to learned journals and musical encyclopedias. His compositions include a symphonic poem, Vernal Equinox (1955), Woodwind Trio (1950), 6 duets for Soprano and Alto Recorder (1954), and piano pieces.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire