Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

Intrada [entrada]

(from Sp. entrada).

An instrumental piece, generally for an ensemble, used to announce or accompany an entrance, to inaugurate some festive event, or to begin a suite. Intradas were also sometimes found within suites followed by a courante or a galliard, and Kirchen-Intraden served as intonations for choral pieces (e.g. those by Michael Altenburg, 1620). The term seems first to have been used in the sense of a contrapuntal entry, as in Valderrábano’s Fantasia sobre la entrada de una baxa (Silva de sirenas, 1547), but shortly afterwards it is found with the meaning of a polyphonic prelude in Venegas de Henestrosa’s Libro de cifra nueva (1557).

The term was also used for the stock piece that preceded and concluded the performance of a trumpet ensemble sonata during the 16th and early 17th centuries in Italy, the Holy Roman Empire and Scandinavia, as well as for a monophonic piece otherwise known as a toccata (see Signal (i) and Tuck, tucket). The trumpet ensemble equivalent of the instrumental intrada appeared towards the end of the 16th century but was known as the Aufzug (See Aufzug (i). The influence of the Aufzug is seen in a collection consisting exclusively of five- and six-part intradas published in Helmstaedt in 1597 by Alessandro Orologio, an Italian trumpeter active in various German cities. Reimann divided the secular intrada as cultivated in 17th-century Germany into four types: a processional type in march rhythm with fanfare motifs and repeated notes; a slower and more solemn pavan type; a faster dance type in triple metre; and a song type, homophonic and of a popular cast. Intradas are found later in collections of orchestral suites. Related types occur in Italy, France and England in connection with ballet and ballroom dances (Purcell’s ‘entry-tunes’ and ‘trumpet tunes’, Italian balli, and the entrées of the French ballet de cour). The intrada went out of fashion towards the end of the 17th century, though the term continued to be applied sporadically by such composers as Gluck (Alceste), Mozart (Bastien und Bastienne) and Beethoven (op.25).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MGG2 (W. Braun)

M. Reimann: ‘Materialien zu einer Definition des Terminus und des Begriffs der Intrada’, Mf, x (1957), 337–64

R. Flotzinger: ‘Alessandro Orologio und seine Intraden (1597)’, DAM, xvii (1986), 53–64

P. Downey: ‘Fantini and Mersenne: some Additions to Recent Controversies’, Historic Brass Society Journal, vi (1994), 355–62

DAVID FULLER/PETER DOWNEY

Intramède.

See Intermède.

Introduction (i)

(Eng. and Fr.; Ger. Einleitung, Eingang; It. introduzione).

Term applied to the preparatory bars, generally in slow tempo, that are sometimes prefixed to extended quicker movements. Although chiefly associated with music of the Classical period the concept is much older than that. In Lamentations settings, for instance, the words ‘Incipit lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae’ are sung at the outset in a passage functioning as the musical equivalent of an illuminated title-page, designed to introduce the Lamentations proper (see for example those of Weerbeke (1506), GMB, p.54). In the Passions and other large-scale works of Schütz an Introitus fulfils the same function, although in the Historia … der Geburt … Jesu Christi this is actually headed ‘Introduction oder Eingang’. Matthew Locke developed a similar feature in his chamber music (MB, xxxi, xxxii), with brief introductory passages to a number of the fantasias which, in conjunction with balancing conclusions, are used to articulate the formal design in some of his consort sets.

In the Classical period an introduction (comparatively rare in a minor-key work) might consist of anything from a chord or two functioning primarily as a call to attention, to a lengthy section with a definite thematic content developed and extended within an appreciable form. The first kind, found in several of Haydn’s quartets (e.g. opp.71 no.3 and 76 no.1), had been used in the trio sonatas of Corelli (e.g. op.4 no.10) and had not outlived its usefulness even by the time of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony. In Haydn’s Quartet op.71 no.2 the introduction is not a few chords but a complete phrase, and this development is carried much further in many of his London symphonies. The introduction to no.99 in E, for example, embraces clear thematic contrasts and a degree of development in its binary structure. It retains the essential characteristics of an introduction, however, in that its tonal scheme is completed only when the music is precipitated into the ensuing Vivace assai. Introductions on this extended scale are found in many of Mozart’s orchestral divertimentos and serenades and in his Symphonies nos.36, 38 and 39; his ‘Symphony no.37’ is a symphony by Michael Haydn to which Mozart added a slow introduction. Beethoven’s Symphonies nos.1, 2, 4 and 7, most of Schubert’s, Mendelssohn’s Third and all of Schumann’s have introductions. Thematic relationships between the introduction and ensuing quick movement, evident in Haydn’s Symphonies nos.97 and 103 (and already foreshadowed in miniature in the Corelli trio sonata previously mentioned), became more frequent. In Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata, phrases from the introduction recur during the course of the Allegro. Later, Tchaikovsky, in his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, presented motto themes in the introductions which reappear not only in the movements that immediately follow but also in later movements. Finales too are sometimes preceded by an introduction (e.g. several Mozart serenades and his G minor String Quintet, Beethoven’s First Symphony, Schubert’s Octet, Brahms’s Symphony no.1 and his Piano Quintet). The introduction became a common feature of the overture during the late 18th century and the 19th and sometimes appeared in piano sonatas and chamber works, particularly those conceived on a large scale; its advent has been associated with the rise of the public concert.

Sets of variations have often been provided with introductions which may or may not anticipate the theme to be varied (e.g. Beethoven’s ‘Kakadu’ op.121a for piano trio, Chopin’s on ‘Là ci darem’ op.2 for piano and orchestra and Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Song op.52 for the same forces); introductions to Strauss waltzes generally foreshadow some of the waltzes themselves and furnish material for the coda (e.g. Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald). Sometimes a work that is basically a single movement is given an increased stature by the provision of an introduction on a considerable scale (Schubert, Introduction and Rondo op.145 for piano; Chopin, Introduction and Polonaise for cello and piano op.3; pieces entitled ‘Introduction and Allegro’ by Schumann, Elgar and Ravel).

The term ‘introduzione’ is found in Beethoven’s op.35 piano variations and in the Waldstein Sonata (where the section concerned effectually stands in place of the slow movement); Schumann’s F minor Piano Sonata and Bartók’s First String Quartet and Concerto for Orchestra provide further instances. Although the opening pages of Tristan und Isolde are often referred to as the ‘Prelude’, Wagner’s score is actually headed ‘Einleitung’ here and in the other acts. Haydn’s ‘Representation of Chaos’ in The Creation, a piece which anticipates Wagner’s procedures in several respects, is similarly captioned.

In arias, songs and concertos instrumental passages or ritornellos preceding the entry of the soloist are sometimes loosely called ‘introduction’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GroveO (J. Budden)

MGG2 (R. Klinkhammer)

M. Danckwardt: Die langsame Einleitung: ihre Herkunft und ihr Bau bei Haydn und Mozart (Tutzing, 1977)

MICHAEL TILMOUTH (1), JULIAN BUDDEN (2)