A character, Jenny Jones, is selected by the children who at one point dance around her to ward off evil spirits.

According to the composer, this though handed down to children, has its origin in a funeral rite in the lowlands of Scotland.

[1] The piece is composed in three sections which follow the traditional requiem: 'Requiem aeternam', 'Dies irae' and 'Requiescat in pace'.

It was premiered by the London Sinfonietta and chorus under David Atherton in August 1969.

Shortly afterward the BBC recorded it with the soprano June Barton and the children of Little Missenden Village School and the composer playing the organ.