The Eleven Intrusions are mostly vocal works, composed by Harry Partch (1901 - 1974), after he moved into an abandoned smithy on a Gualala, California ranch.

Partch now had an opportunity to gather the instruments he had built to play his music. They had been inaccessible, in storage with various friends, for several years. Their presence, and the beautiful coastal scenery, were highly stimulating to his imagination, although as time went on, the studio's isolation became oppressive, particularly after a bout of bad health, evidently brought on by allergic reaction to tick bites.

The Eleven Intrusions continues a line of vocal music begun in 1930 and featuring adapted guitar as the main accompaniment. The first two "intrusions" are instrumental, as Partch incorporated the earlier work Two Studies on Greek Scales to start his cycle as numbers One and Two.

The next group of Intrusions appeared as Three Intrusions, in August 1949. They comprise The Rose (a poem by Ella Young), The Crane (Tsuruyuki, translated by Waley), and The Waterfall (Young). The instruments are adapted guitar II and diamond marimba. The latter was a new instrument, representing a physical realization of the "tonality diamond" chart Partch had used in his just-completed book, Genesis of a Music, to illustrate the tonal relationships of the notes in his system. The music of these songs is basically an expansion of the chord patterns that arise naturally on the diamond marimba. These are numbers Three through Five of the final version of the Eleven Intrusions.

In March 1950, Partch composed another set of Three Intrusions. They are The Wind (Young and Lao-tzu), The Street (Willard Motley), both for voice, harmonic canon, and bass marimba, and Lover (George Leite), for soprano, speaking voice, adapted guitar II, cloud chamber bowls, and bass marimba. These are numbers Six through Eight of the Intrusions. These use the entire 43-tone scale, which is set up on the harmonic canon and provides a means to produce eerie, wailing glissandi. These three songs are all dark, ghostly, and disquieting.

In November and December, Partch wrote music for two poems of Ungaretti, translated by Weaver. Soldiers—War—Another War, written for voice, harmonic canon, diamond marimba, cloud chamber bowls, adapted guitar II, and bass marimba, became number Nine of the Intrusions. The other, Vanity, for voice and adapted guitars I, II, and III, became number Ten. The contrasting timbres of these two songs arise from use of repeated patterns on the instruments in Soldiers, and on tremolos and glissandos on the guitars in Vanity. By the tenth song, the mood of the set begins to lighten.

The finale is Cloud Chamber Music, for voice, adapted viola, adapted guitar III, kithara, Indian deer hoof rattles, diamond marimba, cloud chamber bowls, and bass marimba. It uses Cancion de los Muchachos, a song of the Iseleta tribe of New Mexico, which all the instrumentalists sing. Emotionally, the work represents progress from a depressed opening passage, led to new vigor by the melody.

The Eleven Intrusions are among Partch's gentlest and most emotionally direct compositions.

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