Views from the Choir Loft

Biography • Andrew R. Motyka

Andrew R. Motyka · January 4, 2013

NDREW R. MOTYKA is the Director of Liturgical Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and Director of Music at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. He previously served as Director of Music at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and held positions at churches in Maryland, Massachusetts, and western Pennsylvania. He holds a Master of Music in Sacred Music from Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University of America, and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from The College of Saint Rose.

Andrew is composer of the Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons (communionantiphons.org), and has published other pieces with CanticaNOVA. He believes that creative implementation of the musical propers of the Mass is the key to liturgical renewal and the improvement of sacred music in our Church.

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About Andrew R. Motyka

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—(Read full biography).

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski