Vincenzo Manfredini (22/10/1737 - 16/08/1799), an Italian composer and a theorist. He was born at Pistoia and died in St. Petersburg. He studied music first with his father, F.O. Manfredini, and then with Perti in Bologna and Fioroni in Milan. In 1758 his older brother Giuseppe, a castrato, went to Moscow with Locatelli's opera troupe, and Vincenzo went with him, possibly as one of the troupe. Moving to St. Petersburg, he became 'maestro di cappella' to Peter Fedorovich, who on becoming emperor in 1762 made him maestro of the court's Italian opera company. Confirmed in this post by Catherine II, he composed operas and occasional works, but on Galuppi's arrival in 1765 he was relegated to composing the ballets performed with Galuppi's operas and to serving as harpsichord teacher to Paul Petrovich, heir to the throne. In 1769 he returned with a pension to Bologna. After two attempts at opera, Manfredini devoted himself mainly to writing and teaching, also publishing a set of symphonies (1776) and string quartets (1781).
When Paul became emperor in 1796, he summoned his old teacher, who arrived in September 1798, but took up no post and died the next year. Manfredini's Regole armoniche, o sieno Precetti ragionati (Venice, 1775) has two parts, an introduction to the elements of music and to keyboard accompaniment. His observations on the proper methd of teaching singing aroused vigourous opposition from Mancini. The second edition (Venice, 1797) was much revised and enlarged with new sections on singing and counterpoint. Manfredini composed numerous operas, as well as ballets, cantatas, sacred music (including a requiem), symphonies, string quartets, concertos, and chamber works.