Today’s installment of my “Salzburg Journal” — Part II — begins with Bernard Lewis. Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal begins his column with Lewis too. Bret first:

Bernard Lewis once made the point that there are two basic ways in which people and nations respond to adversity and decline. The first, the great historian wrote in 2002, is to ask “Who did this to us?” The second is, “What did we do wrong?” One question leads to self-pity; the other to self-help. One disavows personal responsibility and moral agency; the other commands them. One is a recipe for economic failure and political squalor; the other for success.

I have a running joke about Salzburg, but it’s not really a joke. It’s more like a test: When will burkas outnumber dirndls? (A dirndl is a traditional Austrian frock; a burka is not.)

From today’s installment:

On a typical day, I think, I see more burkas in Salzburg than dirndls. But that is only because the Austrian ladies choose not to wear dirndls, whereas Muslim ladies are pretty reliable about their burkas.
Does it matter? Well, to answer that, let me recall an anecdote from Bernard Lewis, the great Middle East historian. A while back, he was being interviewed by a Dutch journalist. Lewis that said, on present trends, Holland would be majority-Muslim in 20 years. The journalist said, “So what?”
Lewis thought, Poor bastard. He has no idea what’s coming.

I wish to offer you some links. In today’s installment, I discuss Wilhelm Backhaus, the great German pianist. He was an interesting combination of technique, power, and spirituality. Here are some encores from late in his career. You’ll see (or rather hear).

I also discuss Krassimira Stoyanova, the great Bulgarian soprano. She was one of my interview subjects in Salzburg this year. She can usually be found singing in German or Italian. Here she is in a language a little closer to home. The music is Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon.”

Finally, I quote, and link to, Ted: Ted Logan, who adventures with Bill (excellently). When life gets weird and convoluted — what else is there to say?