A New Interpretation on the Essence of Musical Intonation

The article is devoted to the search for specifi city of musical intonation in comparison with the intonation of speech and of declamation. The author polemicizes with the traditional interpretation of this term set up by Asafi ev and derives the concept of intonation from the category of lad (mode). Intonating is perceived as a means for unfolding the lad in time, as the actualization of relations between the stable and unstable elements of the modal system. Description is given to the process of unfolding of the lad in the era of monody and in the conditions of the classical tonality.