LETTER FROM BERLIN.(Brief Article)

Berlin's performing-arts institutions, among the finest in the world, turned into a discordant choir of protest, rumor, insult and attack this past autumn, as Germany's capital tried to fit cultural ways to fiscal means. Proposals and counterproposals, charges and countercharges flew by so fast that an edge of futility crept into any attempt to characterize the situation. Tomorrow's headlines could mean this letter will be outdated before it's ever printed.

The controversy pitted Daniel Barenboim, artistic and musical director of the Staatsoper and its Staatskapelle orchestra, against Christoph Stolzl, Berlin's Senator for Culture. Barenboim is a world-famous conductor; Stolzl is a budget-minded politician whose background is in museum administration, not performing arts.

Barenboim has long complained that his musicians were underpaid; he publicly threatened not to renew his contract (to expire in 2002) if more money couldn't be found. Stolzl pointed out that Berlin's three opera houses currently receive $101 million in annual subsidy -- too little to support the way they are run now; the city of Berlin, he said, was unable to spend any more. As Barenboim's unhappiness with the budget grew, Stolzl flew to Chicago (where Barenboim is music director of the Chicago Symphony), ostensibly to encourage the maestro to remain at the Staatsoper. But Stolzl emerged from that meeting with the announcement that Barenboim had declined any future assignments in Berlin; a few days later, Barenboim reported that he'd never said any such thing. Perhaps the senator had hoped he could get rid of his high-profile opponent before unveiling what would be his most controversial proposal yet.

On October 13, Stolzl announced a "Concept for a Reform of Structures" aiming to save $8.8 million -- a token, perhaps, given the sums involved -- by putting about 300 employees out of work. Stolzl proposed to merge Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper by January 2002. To be known as "Opera Stages of Berlin," the two houses would share a single administration, one pool of technicians and stage hands, one chorus, etc. Separate orchestras would be kept -- but in radically reduced form. Seventy-seven musicians would lose their jobs, leaving each orchestra with only ninety-five members. The city's third house, Komische Oper, would be untouched -- except for its ballet company, which would be eliminated.

Barenboim termed Stolzl's plan "a farce." On November 2, he joined more than forty prominent performing artists in an open letter, published in several Berlin newspapers, urging cultural officials not to proceed with the consolidation. The next day, Barenboim replied to Stolzl's proposal with a counterproposal. A wealthy patron, Peter Dussmann, owner of a Berlin-based business group, pledged to donate $450,000 annually to the Staatsoper for at least three years; he predicted matching funds from other corporate sponsors. Most observers, however, considered Dussmann's proposal nothing more than a "nice gesture" for the Staatsoper.

As of this writing, Stolzl's "Concept" was still on the table and fiercely debated. A few even said the merger was an attempted hostile takeover of the Staatsoper, prize of the ...