Manfredini, Vincenzo
Manfredini, Vincenzo
Manfredini, Vincenzo, Italian composer and writer on music, son of Francesco Onofrio Manfredini; b. Pistoia, Oct. 22,1737; d. St. Petersburg, Aug. 16,1799. After initial training from his father, he studied in Bologna with Perti and in Milan with Fioroni. In 1758 he accompanied his brother to Moscow. Moving on to St. Petersburg, he became maestro di cappella to Peter Fedorovich. When the latter became Czar, Manfredini was made maestro of the court’s Italian opera company in 1762. With the arrival of Galuppi in 1765, however, Manfredini’s influence waned and he was relegated to composing ballets. In 1769 he was granted a pension and settled in Bologna. For the most part, he devoted himself to writing on music. In 1798 his former pupil, now Czar Paul I, recalled him to Russia but Manfredini died before taking up any position for his patron. He publ. Regole armonische, o sieno Precetti ragionati (Venice, 1775; 2nd ed., rev. and aug., 1797) and Difesa della musica moderna (Bologna, 1788).
Works
dramatic: Opera: Semiramide riconosciuta (Oranienbaum, 1760); Olimpiade (Moscow, Nov. 24,1762); Carlo Magno (St. Petersburg, 1763; rev. 1764); La finta ammalata (St. Petersburg, 1763); La pupilla (St. Petersburg, 1763); Armida (Bologna, May 1770); Artaserse (Venice, Jan. 1772). ballet:Amour et Psyché (Moscow, Oct. 20, 1762); Pygmalion (St. Petersburg, Sept. 26, 1763); Les Amants réchappées du naufrage (St. Petersburg, 1766); Le Sculpteur de Carthage (St. Petersburg, 1766); La Constance récompensée (Moscow, 1767). orch.: Harpsichord Concerto (The Hague and Amsterdam, 1769?); 6 syms. (Venice, 1776). chamber: 6 harpsichord sonatas (St. Petersburg, 1765); 6 string quartets (Florence, 1781?). vocal: Cantatas; sacred music.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire