The international conference on the composer Antonio Manfroce and music in Naples, sponsored by the Istituto di Bibliografia Musicale Calabrese, Istituto per la Storia della Musica, Società Italiana di Musicologia, Deutsches Historisches Institut, Associazione Amici della Musica Manfroce and Foundation Ottavio Ziino, commemorated the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of Manfroce, a musician seldom studied by historians. Its main aim was to shed light on his life, compositions and contribution to early nineteenth-century music.

Born in Palmi in the province of Reggio Calabria on 20 February 1791, Manfroce came from a musical family (his father was a choirmaster) and showed precocious talent from an early age. According to anecdotal evidence, he wrote his first mass when he was just twelve years old. Thanks to the support of two wealthy citizens, he was able to move to Naples and enrol as a fee-paying student at the prestigious Conservatory of the Pietà dei Turchini. He took up his place in 1804, studying initially with Giovanni Furno and Giacomo Tritto before joining the class of Nicola Zingarelli. It is likely that even at that time he was suffering from the tuberculosis that would lead him to the grave just months after the debut of his masterpiece, the opera L'Ecuba (1812). It seems that the effort it took to complete this work undermined his health beyond repair. Manfroce died in Naples on 9 July 1813, a few months after L'Ecuba had triumphed there on the illustrious stage of the Teatro San Carlo. What strikes one most about L'Ecuba is Manfroce's ability to create an atmosphere that combines glittering charm with a deep sense of tragic pathos. His treatment of the orchestra is so skilful and sophisticated that one is inclined to agree with Francesco Florimo's claim that Manfroce should be considered a significant ‘link between Paisiello and Cimarosa and Rossini, for whom he must be considered a precursor’ (‘considerando il Manfroce quale anello di congiunzione fra Paisiello e Cimarosa, per giungere a Rossini, di cui deve esser ritenuto precursore’; La scuola musicale di Napoli e i suoi conservatorii (Naples: Vincenzo Morano, 1880–1882; reprinted Bologna: Forni, 2002), volume 3, 103).

During the conference's first session, Francesco Paolo Russo (Conservatorio di Musica Lorenzo Perosi, Campobasso) argued that Manfroce's biography deserves a careful reassessment, especially in light of archival documents from the Archivio di Stato di Roma and the broader context of early nineteenth-century Papal rule in Rome. Antonio Caroccia (Conservatorio di Musica Umberto Giordano, Foggia) reconstructed the formative years of Manfroce's training as a musician, focusing on the school system and the theatrical milieu, which at that time was dominated by the French government in Naples. He also discussed several archival documents demonstrating how the Napoleonic government perceived the Calabrian artist, even in the last days of his life. Domenico Giannetta (Conservatorio di Musica Fausto Torrefranca, Vibo Valentia) analysed a manuscript source of L'Ecuba, concluding that the copy preserved in the library of the Conservatory of Naples is the work of a single scribe, contradicting the view of Antonio Bacchelli. Regarding the opera's orchestration, he showed that Manfroce's instrumentations are noteworthy, as are his layout of instruments in the score, his characteristic instrumental doublings and his refined use of timbre for dramatic effects. Of particular interest are Manfroce's sudden modulations between distant keys, sometimes put into motion by shifting between two tonal centres linked by the interval of a third, evidence of the young composer's strong musical personality and anticipating a feature of Schubert's musical language.

The second session, chaired by Markus Engelhardt (Deutsches Historisches Institut), opened with Josephine Montagnese (Scuola Media G. G. Belli) speaking about Manfroce's Variations for Piano (1809), the Variations on ‘Già la notte si avvicina’ (c1807–1809), several symphonies and selected arias from the composer's two operas. These compositions, in which the composer demonstrates his assimilation of the teachings of the Neapolitan school and his awareness of other European styles, bear the strong influence of his formative period at the conservatory in Naples. Sergio Pagliarulo (Liceo Musicale Giuseppe Moscati, Naples) presented his research on tradition and innovation in Manfroce's sacred works by analysing masses, a Kyrie and Gloria, a Miserere for three voices, several vespers settings and a Dixit. He also provided some useful comments on the composer's symphonic works.

Giovanni Russo (Director of the Public Library of Polistena, Reggio Calabria) provided new insights into Manfroce's genealogy, identifying the composer's ancestors Domenico Antonio and Don Fortunato Manfroce, both musicians. Maria Paola Borsetta (Conservatorio di Musica Fausto Torrefranca, Vibo Valentia) analysed theatrical and musical productions in Cosenza (Calabria) during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, uncovering a good deal of information on contemporary musicians in the city's archives. Finally, Francis Bissoli (Università Suor Orsola Benincasa, Naples) delivered a paper on Manfroce's role in the changing dramaturgical conventions of opera during the early nineteenth century, comparing L'Ecuba with Simon Mayr's Ginevra di Scozia (1801).