BILD

Subject: Daniel Barenboim

Dear Mr. Wagner,

Your piece on Barenboim is splendid. I came to Weimar in 1999 to write a book on Gropius. And watching the East-West Divan orchestra begin was one of the intellectual thrills of my life. As a retired professor of Americal Lit (85!) I use BILD as my  belated aid for learning German--in spite of the fact that the relatives of my new German wife mock me for reading such "trash".

Their snootiness is wrong. Tabloids are the way foreigners should approach a foreign langage. (But I'll never win that argument: at least my Hildegard admits you're worth reading!)

But I write for the website of the University of the Arts, Philadelphia (my last hometown). Broad Street is Philly's main drag. I'll send you a piece of my Gropius book to give you an idea of why I want to write a piece about you and BILD.

Sincerely, Dr. Patrick D. Hazard, Seifengasse 10, Weimar 99423. (We just paid off the bank for our third floor flat in a villa built in 1782. Do you know who lived at Seifengasse 1?)