Before the National Socialists upgraded the financially ailing Berlin Philharmonic to the Reich Orchestra, the Prussian State Orchestra, formerly the Prussian Court Orchestra, i.e. the orchestra of the opera Unter den Linden, was always the number one orchestra in Prussia;
in all of Germany it was matched only by the former court orchestras in Dresden and Munich in terms of musical rank and historical importance, and surpassed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
When Berlin's cultural policy succeeded in bringing the then forty-nine-year-old Daniel Barenboim from Paris to reunited Berlin in 1991, it was not just a coup on the international star market, but a stroke of luck, because Barenboim recognized the potential of the chapel and the opera house, their traditions and peculiarities and proved their viability in a sensational way.
King of Germany for a long time
Barenboim's incomparable musicality, plus his emphasis as a political player, have given the house and the orchestra international glamor and won them financial favor, which at times caused a considerable difference in salary among the city orchestras of Berlin: a newly hired tutti player in the State Opera received 1,300 euros a month more than in the concert hall.
Berlin's former culture senator Christoph Stölzl once said that cultural policy is essentially music policy because operas and orchestras gobble up the lion's share of the budget.
In this field, Barenboim was long the king of Germany.
Now, seriously ill, he has announced his resignation from the position of General Music Director at the end of the month, thereby preserving his dignity and ability to act.
There are not many who would have the stature to succeed him in office.
Like Barenboim, they need both in their musical excellence, their political skill and their institutional thinking: historical sense and the power to design.
And on top of that, courage and charisma.