Gennaro Manna (12 December 1715 - 28 December 1779) was an Italian composer based in Naples. He was a member of the Neapolitan School. His compositional output includes 13 operas and more than 150 sacred works, including several oratorios.
The son of Giuseppe Maria Manna and Caterina Feo (sister of the composer
Francesco Feo), he received his musical training at the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana [it] in Naples, where his uncle Francesco Feo was primo maestro. He made his operatic debut at the Teatro Argentina in Rome with Tito Manlio on January 21, 1742. Thanks to its success, he received a new commission from the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice for the carnival of the following year, where he gave Siroe re di Persia.
After his return to Naples, he composed Festa teatrale per la nascita dell'Infante with Nicola Bonifacio Logroscino, which was never staged. In 1744, he was appointed maestro di cappella of the Senate of Naples, succeeding
Domenico Sarro, and in January 1745, with Achille in Sciro, he made his debut at the Teatro di San Carlo with Giovanna Astrua [it] and Gaetano Majorano, which was well received. On October 1, 1755, after the death of
Francesco Durante, the primo maestro of the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto [it], he took the position of interim teacher next to the secondo maestro Pietro-Antonio Gallo [it], but on February 13, 1756 he won the competition to become permanent. Between 1760 and 1761 he performed his last theatrical works, the serenata Enea in Cuma and the opera seria Temistocle. In January 1761 he succeeded his uncle Feo as director of the chapel of the Santissima Annunziata Maggiore, and on May 9 of the same year he received the same position for the Naples Cathedral. He remained active as a composer of sacred music until his death.
Within his family his brother Giacinto Mannait [it] and his cousin Cristoforo Manna [it] also gained fame as musicians.
Unlike his contemporaries
Niccolò Jommelli,
Gaetano Latilla and
Girolamo Abos, he left the field of opera buffa to deal only with that of the opera seria, in which he was much appreciated by the composers of his time. In his compositional style there are elements of both the galant style and pre-classicism.
