The works in this volume were composed over more than fifteen years. Crickets was composed for the Joy in Singing's millennium celebration at Merkin Hall and is dedicated to soprano Meagan Miller. Summer into Autumn Slips is a setting of an excerpt from one of Emily Dickinson's poems. How to Get Heat Without Fire was premiered in April 2000 at The Great Hall at Cooper Union in NY. Jody Sheinbaum was the soprano with the composer accompanying. Over the years, The Pocketbook has proven the most popular of the songs and is often excerpted from the cycle. The five songs of In the Middle of a Life are excerpted from a collection of 15 solos, duets, and trios - all settings of poems by Linda Pastan. Rapture was composed for the wedding of two dear friends, both treasures of New York's musical life. The George Eliot text was selected by the couple, and the music captures its great tenderness.