Vincenzo Manfredini, Regole armoniche

Fac-simile of the 1775 Venice edition

Edited by Massimiliano Sala Edited by Roberto Zappula

Book cover: Vincenzo Manfredini, Regole armoniche

Extent: 350, 350 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Eighteenth-Century Studies, Music & Performing Arts

Series: Musical Treatises

Series volume number: 1

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(December 2013)

ISBN: 9782503548838

Price: $163.00

In stock

This series publishes musicological studies in English or French on musical treatises from XIV century to the end of the XIX century, as well as modern editions of treatises with a historical introduction and critical commentary.


A composer of, amongst other things, operas, ballets, symphonies, string quartets and harpsichord sonatas, Vincenzo Manfredini eventually turned to writing about music. His Regole armoniche is an important source of information on eighteenth-century performing practices. In this work he summarizes all of the rules surrounding accompaniment illustrating them with written-out realizations. He is, quite possibly, the only Italian author of an accompaniment treatise to take this approach. His comments on singing sparked controversial exchanges between the Italian castrato Giovanni Battista Mancini and Esteban de Arteaga. The volume aims to investigate the genesis and the role of Regole armoniche in the light of theoretical concepts and debates within eighteenth-century musical spheres. The volume is divided into three parts: firstly, an opening collection of critical essays (by Gregory Barnett, Jean Grundy Fanelli, Rudolf Rasch and Peter Walls) concerning Manfredini’s life, his output and his intellectual inclinations; secondly, a facsimile edition and finally, an annotated edition whose translation into English is long overdue.

  • Edited by Massimiliano Sala
  • Edited by Roberto Zappula