The year after The Odyssey at Linwood High School we read the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, studied the Bayeux Tapestry and created a piece around the events of 1066: Harold and William.

William crossing the Channel

Death of Harold

This is the only one of the four big Linwood total theatre works which produced music that was also played in other contexts:

• Coronation Welcome—Psalm 21 for choir and brass ensemble

Rod Harries as Precentor at the Coronation of William the Conquerer

• Sanctus this was the celebratory finale which was later performed by the Royal Christchurch Musical Society

LP Cover, lino cut by Gavin Bishop

This last performance impressed me in that the old established choir had much greater difficulty with the 5/8 time signature than had the pupils at the school.

The critic Heath Lees wrote in the Christchurch Press on June 16. 1980:

Kit Powell's Sanctus was also included and though the choir seemed less than easy with it, the piece was fascinating, if short. The orchestral sounds are totally workable and very effective, and one hopes Mr Powell might offer us this sooas part of a larger work.

In fact this movement, considerably enlarged, became the Sanctus of the Missa Profana.