DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

490 INTRODUCTION INTROIT
the first rhythms of the first subject begin to
drop, at first sparsely, like hints of what is to
come, then closer and closer, and louder and
louder, till the complete subject bursts in in full
grandeur with the tonic chord. In this case
the introductory form reappears in the course of
the movement, and also briefly in the discussion
of the previous themes which immediately
precedes the commencement of the vocal portion
of the work.
After Beethoven no composer has grasped the
idea of intimately connecting the Introduction
with the work which it introduces more success-
fully than Schumann, and many of the e-xamples
in his works are highly interesting and beautiful.
In the Symphony in G, for instance, a striking
figure of the opening reappears in the first
movement, in the scherzo, and in the last
movement. In the Symphony in D minor, in
which all the movements are closely connected,
the Introductory phrases are imported into the
Romanze, where they occupy no unimportant
position. In his Sonata in D minor, for violin
and pianoforte, op. 121, the Introduction
proposes in broad and clear outlines the first
subject of the succeeding allegro, in which it is
stated with greater elaboration. The Overture
to * Manfred '
afiforda another very interesting
specimen of Schumann's treatment of the Introduction.
It opens with three abrupt chords
in quick tempo, after which a slow tempo is
assumed, and out of a sad and mysterious commencement
the chief subject of the Overture
proper is made by degrees to emerge. An earlier
analogue to this is the Introduction to Beethoven's
'Egmont' Overture, in which one of the
chief figures of the first subject of the overture
seems to grow out of the latter part of the introduction.
Of all forms of musical composition none are
more frequently preceded by an Introduction
than overtures ; the two above mentioned, and
such superb examples as those in the Overtures
to 'Leonora' Nos. 2 and 3, and to 'Coriolan,
and such well-known ones as those to AVeber's
' Der Freischiitz ' and 'Oberon,' Schumann's
'Genoveva,' and Mendelssohn's ' Buy Bias, ' will
serve to illustrate this fact.
Introductions are not unfrequently fouud in
the place of overtures before choral works, as in
Handel's '.Toshua,' Haydn's 'Creation,' Beethoven's
' Mount of Olives,' and Rossini's
' Stabat Mater. ' In this sense also the ' Vor-
spiel,' which Wagner so often adopts in place
of an overture before his operas is an Introduction
; as in 'Lohengrin,' and 'Rheingold,' and
the three operas of the trilogy. In these the
figures are generally very intimately connected
with thn music of the opera, and in all but the
first they are part of the first scene, into which
' Tristan nnd
they pass without a break. In
Isolde ' Wagner gives the name ' Einleitung ' to
the orchestral prelude both of the first and
second acts, and this term is yet more literally
translatable as ' Introduction ' than Vorspiel.
In earlier operas the term Introduction is frequently
applied to the whole first scene, as in
'Don Giovanni,' ' Zauberfltite,' 'Figaro,' 'Freischiitz,'
' II Barbiere,' 'Norma,' and so on. In
' Fidelio,' Beethoven gives the name to the
opening of the second act, which comprises more
of an orchestral prelude, like Wagner's ' Ein-
leitung.'
In relation to instrumental music again Introductions
are occasionally found in other positions
than at the beginning of an entire work ; as for
instance the preparatory adagio before the last
movement of Beethoven's Septet and of his
Symphony in C, the more important one in the
same position in Brahms's C minor Symphony,
the short passage before the slowmovement of the
Ninth Symphony, the two notes which introduce
the slow movement of the Bb Sonata (op. 106),
and the Introduction to the last movement of
Brahms's Quintet in F minor. c. H. H. p.
INTROIT (Lat. Introitus, Antiphona ad
Introitum, Ingressa). An antiphon and psalm,
sung, by the choir, at the beginning of mass.
The words of the antiplion, or introit proper,
come almost universally from Holy Scripture.
The psalm has been curtailed until one verse
only is sung, followed by the Gloria Patri.
The antiphon is repeated in full at the conclusion
of the Gloria, and, according to English
custom, before it also. Proper introits are
appointed for every day in the ecclesiastical
year ; and from the first words of these many
Sundays derive the names by which they are
familiarly known—as ' Laetare Sunday, ' the
fourth Sunday in Lent ;
' Quasimodo Sunday,'
the first Sunday after Easter (Dominica in Albis
—the ' Low Sunday ' of the old English Calendar).
The music to which the introit is sung forms
part of the Gregorian chant (see Gkegokian
Music) and is to be found in the gradual. The
pisalms are sung to special forms of the Gregorian
tones, more elaborate than those used for the
Gospel canticles. The introit for the first mass
on Christmas day, which we would have transcribed,
had space permitted, is a remarkably
fine specimen of the style.
The First Prayer Book of King Edward VI.
(1549) appointed for an introit an entire psakn,
followed by the Gloria Patri, but sung without
an antiplion. At first sight, the rubric ' Then
shall he say a Psalm appointed for the Introit,
would lead to the suppo-sition that the psalm
in question was not intended to be sung by the
choir : this idea, however, is disproved by the
fact that the music for it is supplied in Merbecke's
' Booke
of Common Praier Noted,' printed in
1 .5 5 , and adapted , throughout, to King Edward's
First Book. This provision of an introit ceased
in the second Prayer Book (1552), and has not
been renewed. But of recent years the use of
an introit has been restored in many Anglican