TT: Almanac

She said to me about American compositions: “There is a picture that one sees, a picture with an old man, and a man, and a little boy–they have drums and he a piccolo, and they are all ragged. I do not know its name.”
I said, “It’s called ‘The Spirit of ’76.'”
“The part that I like least in your American compositions is the part where these people come into the piece. Why should a piano concerto, or a ballet, or a description of how dawn comes over your American prairies, need always a little march with a piccolo?”
I said, “It’s put into the piece to show that it’s an American piece.” Irene replied, “Ah, no doubt. It is like that little sign Made in America that one sees on objects–without it, perhaps, the piece could not be exported.”
Randall Jarrell, Pictures from an Institution