I chose this text of John Keats for its beautiful opening line “The poetry of Earth is never dead." The whole poem has a gentle atmosphere, celebrating the cycles of nature, and I hoped to capture some of that special atmosphere in the musical setting.

The whole composition employs a special harmonic system based on the 5-29 set which I frequently use in my compositions. This is the first work I have written from beginning to end in this system. Neither strictly tonal nor atonal, the music should sound to the listener as existing in an alternative tonal world.

On the Grasshopper and Cricket is scored for SATB chorus with frequent divisi into up to eight parts. A piano part, for rehearsal only, is included.