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He was born in Pistoia in 1737 and studied first with his father Francesco, who was Chapel Master in the Cathedral of San Filippo, and then with Giacomo Antonio Preti in Bologna and with Gian Andrea Fioroni in Milan. In 1758 he went to Russia, following his elder brother Giuseppe, who was a member of the troupe guided by Antonio Locatelli. In Saint Petersburg he worked as Chapel Master of the Italian Opera Company, for the Tsar Pietro first and then for Caterina II. But finally Caterina preferred Baldassarre Galuppi - who arrived at the Court in 1765 - and Manfredini was relegated to compose the dances which were represented in the operas of his rival, and to teach music to the heir to the throne. So in 1769 he went back to Bologna, because he had received an invitation from a young student that he had taught almost thirty years before. In September 1798 he went to Russia again but he had not fortune, and he died the next year in Saint Petersburg without being appointed to any public office. After some attempts of operas, Vincenzo Manfredini dedicated himself mainly to the teaching and to the writing of didactic pamphlets, as the Regole armoniche, o sieno Precetti ragionati [Harmonic rules, or Reasoned precepts] (Venice, 1775), where he introduced the reader to the main elements of the musical composition and accompanying techniques with the keyboard. The method was revised and widened in the second edition (Venice, 1797), that was enriched by some new sections about the art of singing and counterpoint - which were illustrated by practical indications on the interpretation. The review - which was published in the Giornale enciclopedico di Bologna [Encyclopaedic Journal of Bologna] - that Manfredini wrote for the first volume of the Rivoluzioni del teatro musicale [Revolutions of the musical theatre] by Stefano Arteaga (Bologna, 1783) is very interesting for us. Stefano Arteaga retorted to this review by publishing some extracts of it in the third volume of his work, and writing some caustic marginal notes. Manfredini replied with the publication of a note to the note: the Difesa della musica moderna [Defence of the modern music] (Bologna, 1788), a clear criticism of the reformist thought that showed the weakness of the opera as a result of the decadent mannerism of the music.
