Imagine working hard all day, then seeing someone who arrived at the last minute receive the same reward. Would you call that fair? Jesus’s parable of the workers in the vineyard asks us to think beyond keeping score. The music this week gives us another way into generosity: Palestrina’s voices make room for one another, Tallis asks for light, and Duruflé reminds us that God is present where there is love. At Evensong, Brahms offers a prayer of trust when tomorrow feels uncertain. You’ll also meet last Sunday’s thirsty deer again, this time in Palestrina’s Latin. As you sing, think about what you contribute—and what becomes possible when everyone listens.

This Week in the Church’s Year Generosity beyond keeping score Today is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. Our Gospel theme for this draft is Matthew 20:1–16: a vineyard owner pays the same daily wage to workers who began at different times. Those who worked longest complain, but the owner asks whether his generosity should make them resentful. It is a challenging picture of grace—a gift we cannot earn by getting ahead of someone else. Singing together offers a small, practical lesson: the strongest voice does not need to claim every phrase. Duruflé’s Ubi caritas connects love with the presence of God; Brahms’s Geistliches Lied asks us to be steady and trust rather than worry about tomorrow. Abbey connection: In Palestrina’s music, several independent lines become one act of worship. You need to know your own part and leave space for the others. That is a musical skill—and a good habit beyond the choir stalls. Look and think: When someone else gets a solo, a prize or a chance you wanted, can you share their delight? What would generosity sound like in a rehearsal? Draft reading note: Matthew 20:1–16 is advertised for this date by St John’s Hyde Park; the Abbey’s own readings await its dated pewsheet. Sunday designation: Abbey September music list.

Historical portrait reproduced by Bach Cantatas Website.

Composer of the Week Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525–1594) took the name by which we know him from his birthplace, a town east of Rome. He moved to Rome as a child, studied music there and became a leading composer of the Renaissance. In 1551 he was appointed to direct the Cappella Giulia at St Peter’s. He later worked at St John Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore before returning to St Peter’s in 1571. His large output of Masses and motets made him a lasting model for church composers. Yet his music is more than a clever exercise. In Sicut cervus, each voice has a melody worth singing, while the overlapping lines express a shared longing for God. This is polyphony: several distinct musical lines sounding together. It asks for confidence without shouting, and independence without ignoring your neighbours. You will hear that balance in both his Mass and his motet this morning. Try following one voice through a recording; then listen again for the whole choir. Which details become clearer when you change your focus? Life and music · Hear VOCES8 sing Sicut cervus

Musical Margins Clues from this week’s scores A few things to notice with your eyes—and then hear with your ears.
PALESTRINA · SICUT CERVUS Imitation: one voice introduces an idea, then another follows with a similar shape. Mark your first entry in the score. Which voice gives you a cue, and how many beats must you count before joining?	TALLIS · O NATA LUX Homophony: the voices often move together in chords. Compare this with Palestrina’s overlapping lines. Find one shared consonant and one phrase ending; make both happen together without clipping the vowels.
DURUFLÉ · UBI CARITAS Plainchant: an old melody lies beneath this twentieth-century motet. Trace the rise and fall of the opening tune. Long phrases need planned breaths; pencil in the breaths agreed by your director.	JACKSON · IN G A title is a clue: explore G mixolydian, using F natural rather than the F sharp of G major. Play G–A–B–C–D–E–F–G, then compare the key signature and accidentals in your choir copy.
BRAHMS · GEISTLICHES LIED Canon: a melody is followed by another voice according to a rule. Brahms pairs soprano with tenor and alto with bass. Find the paired entries, count the rests and keep your own line secure while the other voice follows.	BACH · FUGUE IN C, BWV 545 Fugue subject: a musical idea returns in different voices. Listen to the fugue after the prelude in the linked recording. How many entries can you spot before the texture becomes too busy to count?
Try these ideas with the music in front of you. Follow the markings and breaths agreed by your director.

9.30am Sung Eucharist

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Missa Aeterna Christi munera
The Mass brings several flowing vocal lines together around the words of worship. Listen for: each voice joining the prayer in the Kyrie. During the service, notice the different character of the Gloria and Agnus Dei.
Listen — Oxford Camerata · Follow the score — Kyrie

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Sicut cervus
As a deer longs for water, the soul longs for God. These are the opening words of Psalm 42—the same image you met in Howells’s Like as the hart last Sunday. Listen for: the overlapping entries. How can the same image of a thirsty deer inspire such different music?
Listen — VOCES8

Thomas Tallis — O nata lux
The title means “O light born of light”. The words address Jesus as redeemer and ask to belong to his body. Listen for: the voices moving together and the warmth created by the changing chords.
Listen — Cor Mundi Chamber Choir

Maurice Duruflé — Ubi caritas
Where charity and love are, God is there: the opening idea gives the whole motet its purpose. Duruflé weaves a Gregorian melody into rich choral harmony. Listen for: how the lower voices begin, and what changes when the upper voices join.
Listen — Wishful Singing and VOCES8 Scholars

Hymns — 271, 272, 310, 333
Have your hymnbook ready and read the words before the first note. The programme gives numbers; titles should be checked against the Abbey’s hymnbook.

Charles-Marie Widor — Adagio from Symphony No. 5
A quiet organ movement gives the morning a reflective ending. Listen for: the melody, the sustained accompaniment and the way the organ can breathe through changes of colour. This is the Adagio from the fifth symphony.
Listen — Symphony No. 5, IV. Adagio

6.00pm Choral Evensong

William Henry Harris — Holy is the true light
This short introit looks towards the radiance and peace promised by Christ. Listen for: the spacing of the chords and the final Alleluias disappearing into the building’s resonance.
Listen — Choir of Westminster Abbey

Thomas Tomkins — Preces and Responses
The officiant and choir take turns in short prayers. Listen for: the exchange between officiant and choir. A clear response begins before you sing, when you count, breathe and watch.
No dependable free direct recording has been verified; follow the Abbey choir copy and James’s guidance.

Psalm 104:1–10 and 24–31 — chants by Howes and Martin
The psalm celebrates creation: light, water, mountains and living creatures. The selection moves from God’s ordering of the world to its astonishing variety. Read the selected verses aloud, then follow the pointing so the meaning survives the chant.
Read Psalm 104 — modern translation
Use the Abbey’s choir copy for its pointing and the advertised chants.

Francis Jackson — Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in G
Mary praises God’s transforming power; Simeon recognises the light promised to all people. Listen for: the different opening moods, then the Gloria in each canticle. Jackson’s Evening Service in G dates from 1952 and uses lively imitation as well as chordal writing.
Listen to both canticles — Wantage Parish Church Choir

Johannes Brahms — Geistliches Lied, Op. 30
The German words ask us to be calm, stand firm and trust God rather than be consumed by tomorrow’s worries. Beneath that calm lies a double canon: pairs of voices follow one another. Listen for: the closing Amen, where the prayer opens out.
Listen — Chorwerk Ruhr

Hymns — 206, 434
Carry the same care for words and shared phrase endings into the hymns. Follow your director’s choice of pace and breathing.

J. S. Bach — Fugue in C major, BWV 545
Last Sunday’s programme gave the prelude from this work; today brings the fugue. One subject passes through different voices and grows into a larger structure. Listen for: the subject returning beneath another moving line. Can you still recognise its shape?
Listen — Netherlands Bach Society, Bart Jacobs
The recording contains both prelude and fugue: continue to the fugue after the prelude.

Programme source: Abbey September music list. Draft based on the published monthly programme; check the dated pewsheet and any later Choir updates for changes. The listening links lead to public performances by other musicians. They are examples to explore alongside the Abbey’s music; follow your own choir copies for editions, arrangements and markings. The Abbey’s own readings remain to be confirmed; the draft Gospel theme is Matthew 20:1–16, as advertised for this date by St John’s Hyde Park.

Happy singing!