The vertex algebra ${𝒲}_{1+\infty ,c}$ with central charge $c$ may be defined as a module over the universal central extension of the Lie algebra of differential operators on the circle. For an integer $n\ge 1$, it was conjectured in the physics literature that ${𝒲}_{1+\infty ,-n}$ should have a minimal strong generating set consisting of $n^2+2n$ elements. Using a free field realization of ${𝒲}_{1+\infty ,-n}$ due to Kac–Radul, together with a deformed version of Weyl’s first and second fundamental theorems of invariant theory for the standard representation of ${\text{GL}}_n$,...