Evening star., 1938-02-20

money received and the result has be
real hindrance to the further progress
Of the orchestra. This year. more than
ever, the future Of the orchestra is in
the hands of the contributors, who
will decide whether having a local
orchestra Of the caliber of the Ma
tional Symphony is worth supporting
or not.
When the orchestra was started
there was much enthusiasm and much
talk about what fine thing it would
be to have such stimulus to music
appreciation in our midst. At that
time few knew how the venture would
turn out or just what 1t would mean,
in reality, to the community. However,
every one went to work with will,
and the orchestra was started. Then,
with difficulty, it has been sustained
Tor several years. During that time,
DR.. Kinder and the members of the
orchestra have done their part in
working hard to perfect the musical
side of the organization. The result
Is the orchestra today ranks as one
Of the foremost in the country and its
fame does not rest solely on the opin-
ion Of the local musical public, for
each year has seen its tours Of the
country take on longer and more en-
bracing proportions.
Now the question Is plainly this: Is
the public willing to continue the
support of the orchestra or Is it quite
content with the little furry Of prov
ing that Washington could have its
own orchestra and the consequent
prestige which followed and are now
willing to drop the whole thing rather
than continue the exertion Of pro-
viding for its support?
WHEN there was first talk OF form
wv ing an orchestra most people had
really no idea of its benefit to this
city, although they talked largely
about it. Now they have proof and
definite knowledge of the character
and the extent of that benefit. They
have heard the best music excellently
performed, they have heard great
artists as soloists. But more than
this, they have had the younger gen.
Grafton instructed in what constitutes
music, in the children's concerts, and
have seen the childrens interest
awakened to better study or to re-
search If they were not able to per-
form in some manner.
One of the most enlightening conse-
quences of the influence which the
orchestra exerts is the series of con-
certs inaugurated this year under the
title of "Children's Concerts for
Adults" A group of young men were
sufficiently aware of what they could
gain by learning about orchestral music
from the beginning that they asked
DR.. Kinder to give series patterned
on the childrens concerts for grown
ups. Last Monday the first concert
was given. There was a large at
tendance with men of all ages in the
majority. They listened with the
greatest attention to the outline of
music's development which DR.. Kind
Ter gave, made notes on it and the
pleasure Of really understanding was
very evident when the orchestra played
numbers in Illustration Of what DIR.
Kinder has been talking about. In
fact, the audience was frankly disap-
pointed when the conductor an
nounced that this was all that could be
covered at that time, although the
hour was late.
Now all this has been given to the
local public which has accepted it
without any thought of the work in
volved. How many ever stop to think
just what it means for both conductor
and men to give an orchestral pro-
gram? First there is the question of
searching through the musical reper-
toire for appropriate music. This takes
weeks Of DR.. Kindler's time. Many
lovely things have to be discarded be-
cause the orchestra has not the neces-
sary number Of players to present