--- description: Washington proudly calls its nine-year-old orchestra the National Symphony Orchestra, proudly considers it one of the dozen-odd major symphonies of the U. S.Conductor since the start has been Hans... title: Music: Washington's Symphony Folds image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Music: Washington's Symphony Folds by [TIME](/author/time/) Apr 22, 1940 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Apr 22, 1940 5:00 AM CUT Washington proudly calls its nine-year-old orchestra the National Symphony Orchestra, proudly considers it one of the dozen-odd major symphonies of the U. S. Conductor since the start has been Hans Kindler, bouncing, blond Netherlander, no kindler of heat in his 80 players but a hilarious prankster, always good for a funny pose when the boys with the cameras come around. Last week the National Symphony announced that this season would be its last. Reason: union trouble. Base pay for the Symphony has been $50 a week for a 23-week season, or less than $25 on a yearly basis if a player has no other jobs. The Musicians’ Protective Union demanded a $10-a-week raise, a 27-week season. The orchestra association, with a $103.000 deficit, offered several compromises, including a $5 raise, a longer season if more funds could be raised. Said the union: No. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6763228/music-washingtons-symphony-folds/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6763228/music-washingtons-symphony-folds/"},"headline":"Music: Washington's Symphony Folds","datePublished":"1940-04-22T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-28T18:03:28.664Z","description":"Washington proudly calls its nine-year-old orchestra the National Symphony Orchestra, proudly considers it one of the dozen-odd major symphonies of the U. S.Conductor since the start has been Hans...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6763228/music-washingtons-symphony-folds/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6763228/music-washingtons-symphony-folds/","name":"Music: Washington's Symphony Folds"}}]}] ```