Francesco Manfredini (1684-1762)
- Concerto (in Re maggiore) con due Trombe (1711)
[Historical
recording]
Performers: Roger Delmotte (trumpet); Albert Adriano (trumpet); Ensemble
Instrumental de Paris;
Louis de Froment (1921-1994, conductor)
---
Italian composer. His father, Domenico, was a trombonist at Pistoia
Cathedral from 1684. Francesco studied music at Bologna in his youth,
taking violin lessons from Torelli and lessons in counterpoint (at that
time virtually synonymous with composition) from Perti. Shortly before
1700 he left for Ferrara, probably because of the dissolution of the S
Petronio orchestra in 1696. In Ferrara he became first violinist at the
church of the Holy Spirit. On returning to Bologna in 1703 he joined the
reconstituted orchestra, initially as an occasional violinist and from
1709 to 1711 as a regular member. In 1704 he was admitted as a player
(suonatore) to the Accademia Filarmonica. His first publication, a set
of 12 chamber sonatas entitled ‘Concertini’, dates from the same year.
There is evidence of a visit, or at least a planned visit, to Venice in
February 1707, for the accidental death by drowning of his colleague
Giuseppe Aldrovandini occurred as he was on his way to join Manfredini
before the latter's departure. In 1711 Manfredini became attached to the
court of the music-loving Antoine I Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco, where
he was active as a composer and performer of instrumental music. Five
children were born to him in the principality between 1712 and 1723.
During this period he maintained close contact with, and perhaps
sometimes visited, Bologna, where his op.3 concertos were published in
1718 and two oratorios were performed a little later. In 1724 he moved
to Pistoia to become maestro di cappella at the cathedral. During his
tenure of this post, which lasted until his death, he emerged successful
from many disputes with the cathedral chapter and with the musicians
under him.
In Pistoia Manfredini had the opportunity to continue his activity as a
composer of oratorios, which were performed at local churches, in
addition to writing many sacred works for liturgical use at the
cathedral and elsewhere. Although Manfredini was clearly a prolific
composer, only his published instrumental music, together with a handful
of other instrumental works in manuscript, survives. The loss of his
nine known oratorios is especially unfortunate. His idiom is firmly
Bolognese in character and resembles that of Torelli, B.G. Laurenti,
Perti and other members of the school associated with S Petronio, though
his music lacks the stamp of a forceful personality and in that respect
is inferior to Torelli's. Venetian influence has been discerned in his
use of unison writing, and the op.3 concertos did not go unmarked by
Vivaldi, despite their greater debt to Torelli. The ending of both the
op.2 Sinfonie da chiesa and the op.3 concertos with a Christmas
pastorale (whose Torellian antecedent is only too patent) deserves
mention. These so-called ‘sinfonie’, with an optional viola part, are
ordinary church sonatas; the ‘solo’ or ‘soli’ cues in the violin parts
merely tell the player that his part is momentarily exposed. The best of
Manfredini’s instrumental works are the six sonatas published in London
in 1764 (but not necessarily composed late in the composer's life).
These are worthy examples of the ‘mixed’ type of sonata juxtaposing
church and chamber elements that became normal after 1700.
