Goldenweiser played Chopin, which called forth these remarks from Leo
Nicolayevitch: "A certain German princeling said: 'Where you want to
have slaves, there you should have as much music as possible.' That's
a true thought, a true observation--music dulls the mind. Especially
do the Catholics realize that; our priests, of course, won't reconcile
themselves to Mendelssohn in church. A Tula priest assured me that
Christ was not a Jew, though the son of the Jewish God and his mother a
Jewess--he did admit that, but says he: 'It's impossible.' I asked him:
'But how then? 'He shrugged his shoulders and said: 'That's just the
mystery.'"
V
"An intellectual is like the old Galician Prince Vladimirko, who, as
far back as the twelfth century, 'boldly' declared: 'There are no
miracles in our time.' Six hundred years have passed and all the
intellectuals hammer away at each other: 'There are no miracles, there
are no miracles.' And all the people believe in miracles, just as they
did in the twelfth century."