Francesco Onofrio Manfredini (1684-1762)
Concerti grossi, for two violins and basso continuo, Op. 3

Francesco Manfredini was born in Pistoia in 1684, the son of a trombonist. He studied in Bologna, taking violin lessons from Giuseppe Torelli, a leading figure in the development of the concerto grosso, with its small group of solo instruments, and of the solo concerto. Like Torelli, Manfredini also studied composition with Giacomo Antonio Perti, maestro di cappella at the Basilica of San Petronio from 1696, the year in which the orchestra of San Petronio was, for the moment, dissolved.

Before 1700 Manfredini was in Ferrara, serving as a violinist at the Church of San Spirito, but in 1704 he returned to Bologna, employed again in the orchestra of San Petronio then re-established. He also became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica and in the same year published a set of twelve chamber sonatas under the title Concertini per came