. . . in a music appreciation class at a rural community college

This morning I was telling my class that Sergei Prokofiev



was supported by an American businessman from Chicago named Cyrus McCormick, Jr.,



but I couldn't remember which farm equipment company he owned, so I asked the class to name a few tractor companies. It is a small class, but they came up with more than a dozen tractor companies, including some I had never heard of. Nobody mentioned International Harvester, even though a song about one of their machines holds an esteemed place in the country music canon.

Here's an interesting story about Prokofiev's journey to America.