A fire Tuesday sent plumes of acrid gray smoke pouring from the roof of the Berlin Philharmonic’s landmark home, where musicians and firefighters rushed to save precious instruments.

The blaze broke out beneath the roof of the building over the main concert hall, which seats 2,440 and is famed for its extraordinary acoustics. There were no injuries, officials said.

Welding work had been carried out on the building’s tin roof earlier in the day, and police were investigating that as a possible cause, police spokeswoman Heike Nagora said.

Firefighters cut open parts of the tent-shaped roof, some 160 feet above the ground, to get at the fire after being called to the scene shortly before 2 p.m., senior fire officer Karsten Goewecke said.

The cloud of smoke, which was visible from a distance shortly after the fire broke out, diminished significantly during the afternoon. The capital’s fire service declared the fire to be under control shortly after 7 p.m.

The fire broke out around the time a lunchtime concert in the building’s ground-floor foyer was letting out and an hour before 700 people were due to start rehearsing Hector Berlioz’s “Te Deum” for a series of weekend concerts being directed by Claudio Abbado, the orchestra’s former chief conductor.

Mr. Goewecke said about 300 people were in the building, but they were evacuated without any panic.