Cherubic hymn by Vincenzo Manfredini

Abstract

The paper considers Vincenzo Manfredini's «Cherubic Hymn» discovered by E. Yu. Antonenko in 2018. Until recently, it was only known that Manfredini composed music for the Orthodox Church, but not a single composition was found. Based on analysis of manuscript sources, the work is dated to the period of 1762–1765, which allows us to claim that Manfredini was one of the first authors who composed Orthodox Church music in the new classical style that replaced the older partes style after 1762. "Cherubimskaya" is contained in singing books written in round notation, stored in the fund collection "Cult Music" of the Russian National Museum of Music (Moscow): RNMM. F. 283. N 937, sheet 87 (treble), N 256, sheet 7 (viola), N 878, sheet 30v. (tenor), N 996, sheet 65v. (tenor), N 879, sheet. 19 vol. (bass), N 944, l. 17 (bass). With a high probability, these chanting vowels are of Petersburg origin, and, thus, the indication of Manfredini's authorship is credible. The Italian composer Vincenzo Manfredini visited Russia twice: 1758-1769 and 1798-1799. By order of the St. Petersburg Court, he composed chants for the Orthodox Church