Dear Nation,

I listen to you. I attune to you. Standing somewhat on the sidelines and somewhat passively, which might seem improper, but it feels right. In any case, I listen and I hear. Various things. I would advise those who claim that nations, even if they exist, do not differ from one another to listen more closely. After silencing their own voices – for one's voice drowns out the others.

The overall texture is predominantly simple. Traditionally, don't take offense, homophonic. The leading voices do not display excessive refinement. The themes, essentially always the same, do not captivate, and if they do, it is rarely, exceptionally, and under foreign influences, although even this is far from being always the case. But in the accompaniment, there are extraordinary things. Dazzling. The accompaniment can be harmonically beautiful, colorfully unique, polyphonic, or entirely unprecedented. Breathtaking.

You seem, oh Nation, to be at your greatest when you think no one is listening.

With respect,