INTONATION

properly speaking, the recitation by the chanter, or rector chori, of the commencing words of the psalm or hymn, before the choir begins: as is often practised in the English choirs, with respect to the Venite , the Te Deum , the Nicene Creed, and the Gloria in Excels is . The intonations of the Greg or i an Psalm chant are regularly prescribed. Intonation is also applied to the commencement of each verse of the Canticles (sung however by the choir) before the reciting note. The intonations are the same as in the psalm chants; but in the latter they are confined to the first verse of each psalm. The word is sometimes, but inaccurately, used for the chanting of the services by the priest or minister in the musical tone proper to choirs— Jebb.