OBITUARIES : Howard Mitchell; Former National Symphony Music Director

Howard Mitchell, 77, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington for 20 years. Mitchell joined the Washington orchestra as principal cellist in 1933 under the first music director, Hans Kindler. Mitchell made his conducting debut with the National Symphony in 1941, and was appointed music director in 1949. Before he retired in 1969 as music director emeritus and guest conductor, Mitchell led the orchestra on its first foreign tour in 1959, with 12 weeks of performances in 19 countries in South and Central America. It also toured Europe under his baton in 1967. In Ormand Beach, Fla., on Wednesday of surgical complications.