[4] In 1917 Manojlović studied at the University of Oxford where he gained an appreciation for old vocal polyphony,[5] graduating in 1919 with his work On the Rivers of Babylon.

He was particularly fond of papers written by passionate researchers of Serbian antiquity, Archpriests Lazar Bogdanović and Dimitrije Ruvarac.

He also quoted papers on the state of contemporary singing practice, as well as prefaces in anthologies of ecclesiastical chanting by Tihomir Ostojić, Gavrilo Boljarić and Nikola Tajšanović.

[12] Manojlović and others, such as Mokranjac, Kornelije Stanković, Petar Konjović, Miloje Milojević, and Stevan Hristić, were some of the first composers of Serbia's harmonized religious music.

[13] Of his contemporaries, Manojlović was characterized as a traditionalist, along with Svetolik Pascan, Milenko Paunović, and Sava Selesković, while Josip Slavenski was considered a modernist.