Evening star., 1948-02-01

not for them, the sustaining fund
asked of Washington residents
would be much larger. That's why
they were kept up during the war
years when the problem of trans
portation, hotel accommodations and
food made them anything but a
lark.
To make the tours profitable, the
orchestra abandoned its concert in
Florida and Canada and concen-
trated instead on a number of per-
formances in a small area. The Or
chestra raised it's fees for perform
ances on tour, but Mr.. Mutch still
has to cope with higher meal costs,
a 60 per cent increase In the cost
OF hotel rooms and increased bus
and rail fares.
Before the war, the large instru-
ments were carried in the baggage
cars, checked on the musicians tick
cts, but ever since baggage space
dwindled the large instruments must
be hauled by truck.
Must Garry Their Own.
The musicians are responsible for
getting their own instruments to
Constitution Hall, however unwieldy.
But when the orchestra plays
at student and neighborhood con-
certs or out of town, the hauling is
paid by the orchestra.
Carting the drums, harps, tubas
and string BASES around costs the
National Symphony more than
$4,000 a year.
The musicians pay for replacing
their own snapped strings, but it
was the orchestra that had to pay
when two chimes were lost from a
truck on the road from Syracuse
to Schenectady.
| Losing the chimes Is typical OF
the kind of emergencies Mr.. Mutch
has to cope with in the best regu-
lated orchestra family. There have
been others.
Another Kind Of Lullaby.
DR.. Hans Kinder. musician di-
rector of the National Symphony
recalls the musicians who have had
| to be sent home from tours at the
expense of the orchestra because
their wives were having babies and
they were too jittery to pay atten-
ton.
There was also the desperately Ill
musician who insisted on making a
town. He died on the road and the
orchestra paid for his funeral ex-
penses.
The orchestra has to carry half
dozen different types of insurance to
the tune of $1,000 a year. Even the
tarpaulin over the Water Gate barge
has to be insured. Luckily 1t was
last year, when it was split twice by
windstorns.
Ticket Costs Held Down.
With all the expenses ref1ecting
the spiraling costs, however, orches-
ira officials point out that neither
| the cost of tickets nor the sustain
ing fund goal has kept pace with
other living costs. For instance,
butter, one of the indices of the
cost of living, has increased Sc per
cent in the past five years. In COM
parison with that, the orchestra, in
the campaign beginning Tuesday, is
seeking $165, ,0O0-an increase OF
only 43 per cent over the 1943 sus-
tanning fund goal. At the same
time the orchestra is providing "a
more concerts than in the 1943 sea-
! son.
As for tickets, the increase over
1943 ranges from II per cent to 25
per cent.
In the same period. the base pay
of the musicians has increased by
81 per cent. Most of the musicians
have had to augment their salaries
by giving individual or group con-
certs or teaching. Orchestra Off.
cials are hoping to keep the salaries
at the same figure in next year!
contract. They know one thing
the salaries cannot be cut.
Making Up Deficits.
In the continuing struggle be-
tween the red and the black ink
orchestra officials draw consolation
from the fact that no orchestra
makes ends meet by the sale o.
tickets alone. For Washington i
the only city where the deficit ha.
to be made up entirely by an an
nual Embarrassing campaign. Else
where, there are endowment funds
grants from city or State or from
the board of education for student
concerts, or revenue from the con-
cert hall itself when the orchestra
owns it. In Washington, the gen.
eral public, through its contrlbu'
tons. support the symphony.
The music swells over Constitution
Hall. The bookkeeper bends over