(It.: ‘intonation’).
(1)
An introductory piece for keyboard that sets the pitch for a following sacred
vocal composition. It is distinguished from other such pieces (preludes,
entradas etc.) by its close relationship to the Venetian toccata. The term
first appeared in Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli's Intonationi d'organo
(1593; ed. in Bradshaw, 1972), which contains eight intonazioni and four
toccatas by Andrea Gabrieli and 11 intonations by Giovanni. The intonazioni
begin with sustained chords, continue with embellishing passages in both hands,
and end with written-out trills starting on the upper note. All 19 are based on
‘ideal’ psalm tones, and both composers arranged their sets in a modal series.
Giovanni's intonazioni use all 12 modes (modes 3 and 4 are combined in
one composition), and are shorter (five to nine battute) and less
brilliant than Andrea's, which use the eight-mode system. Each of Giovanni's is
also transposed up or down a 4th or 5th, giving the following scheme: D
(transposed to G with one flat); G with one flat (D); E (A with one flat); C (F
with one flat); F (B
with one flat); G (C with one flat); G (C with one flat); A (D with one flat);
A (D with one flat); F with one flat (C); and C (F with one flat). Andrea's
eight compositions, because of their greater length (12 to 16 battute)
and virtuosity, are not transposed, but have a similar modal plan (except that
mode 6 has a flat): D, G with one flat, E, E, C, F with one flat, G, G.
Bernhard Schmid (ii) reprinted Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli's intonazioni in his Tabulatur Buch of 1607 (though with confused attributions), but subsequent collections of intonazioni were rare. The Venetian style of the Gabrielis was developed in the few surviving later publications. Three anonymous intonationes cromatiche, possibly by Tarquinio Merula, appeared in the manuscript Lynar A2 (D-Bsb; first half of the 17th century; ed. in MMI, i/1, 1961). They range from 25 to 36 battute and are made up of block chords with figurations embellishing chromatic harmonies, dissonances and suspensions. They are, in effect, embellishments of chromatic toccatas, and the last two intonationes have a central imitative passage. The modes used are 3 (E), 4 (A with one flat) and 9 (A).
The 11 introiti and one intonatio by Christian Erbach (ed. in CEKM, xxxvi/5, 1977) are in their expansiveness closer to Andrea Gabrieli's toccatas than to his intonazioni. Erbach's Intonatio secundi toni (G with one flat) is 88 battute long and consists of three continuous sections – a central imitative passage surrounded by virtuoso passages with much motivic exchange; it closely resembles a Venetian toccata. Johann Kindermann's two intonationes in his Harmonia organica of 1645 (ed. R. Walter, Altötting, 1966) are imitative compositions. The one on Gib frid zu unser Zeit begins with an eight-bar introductory pedal point leading into a contrapuntal setting of the melody's first phrase; the other is an imitative psalm tone setting of the Magnificat 4 toni (on A).
Sebastian Scherer published intonation cycles on the eight tones in his Operum musicorum secundum of 1664 (ed. A. Guilmant, Paris, 1907/R), each tone having four separate settings, giving 32 intonations in all. The opening setting usually has chords surrounded by virtuoso passage-work and motivic writing; the second setting is a fugato; the third is like a chromatic toccata with sustained chords, suspensions, dissonances and occasional imitative writing; and the fourth is a fugato with dance-like rhythms. Although described as ‘breves’, the intonations average over 20 battute each. They are arranged according to the old church modes: D, G with one flat, A, E, C, F with one flat, G, G.
A single Intonatio sexti toni by Franz Provintz appears in a manuscript dated 1675–6 (F-Pn Vm71817) and in its ‘rows of diminutions’ shows an Italian influence (Pirro). F.X. Murschhauser included two short intonationes, along with preludes and fugues, in his Prototypon (1703). The first, on D, is made up of broken chords, and the second of virtuoso display passages over a pedal point on G. Each is only ten battute long.
The ease with which organists could improvise such compositions, as well as the ease with which other genres, such as Magnificat fugues could assume the same introductory function (Nolte), account for the small number of intonazioni that have survived. Notated intonazioni were sophisticated realizations of a very simple improvisatory technique – the playing of a few chords to give pitch and mode to the singers. Both Banchieri (L'organo suonarino, 1605) and the anonymous author of the Wegweiser (1698) gave only a series of figured basses for their intonationes, to which performers undoubtedly added solid chords and, if their skills allowed, passaggi. As late as 1739, Mattheson (Der vollkommene Capellmeister) noted that intonationes are ‘best with only a few full chords, although certain broken chords moving up or down, or down or up, can also be used’. He added that ‘they must as much as possible be unconstrained and played without marking the beat’.
A. Pirro: ‘L'art des organistes’, EMDC, II/ii (1926), 1326–7
H.H. Eggebrecht: Studien zur musikalischen Terminologie (Wiesbaden, 1955), 898–926
E. Nolte: ‘The Magnificat Fugues of Johann Pachelbel: Alternation or Intonation?’,JAMS, ix (1956), 19–24
E. Kenton: Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli, MSD, xvi (1967)
M.C. Bradshaw: The Origin of the Toccata, MSD, xxviii (1972)
M.C. Bradshaw: ‘Tonal Design in the Venetian Intonation and Toccata’, MR, xxxv (1974), 101–19
E. Selfridge-Field: Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi (Oxford, 1975, 3/1994)
M.C Bradshaw: ‘The Influence of Vocal Music on the Venetian Toccata’, MD, xlii (1988), 157–98
(2) Term used to denote particular ornaments; See Ornaments, §§4 and Ornaments, §§8
MURRAY C. BRADSHAW