Girolamo Abos

Girolamo Abos, last name also given Avos or d'Avossa and baptized Geronimo Abos (16 November 1715 – May 1760), was a Maltese-Italian composer of both operas and church music.

Born in Valletta, Malta, son of Gian Tommaso Abos, whose father was a Frenchman from Castellane and Rosa Farrugia, Abos studied under Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante in Naples. In 1756, he became Maestro al Cembalo (Director of Music) at the Italian Theatre in London. In 1758 he returned to Italy as a teacher at the Conservatorio della Pietà de' Turchini in Naples, where Giovanni Paisiello was one of his pupils. He wrote fourteen operas for the opera houses in Naples, Rome, and London, of which Tito Manlio (Naples, 1751) was the most successful. After 1758 he composed a good deal of church music, including seven masses and several litanies. He died in Naples. Many of his sacred works, oratorios, and the opera Pelopida have been edited by the Australian musicologist and conductor Richard Divall, and are freely available.

List of operas composed by Abos

Title	Genre	Sub­divisions	Libretto	Première date	Place, theatre
Zingare Le due zingare simili	opera buffa		Palomba Antonio Palomba	1742 1742	Naples, Teatro Nuovo
Geloso Il geloso	commedia		Palomba Antonio Palomba	1743-04 spring 1743	Naples, Teatro dei Fiorentini
Furberie Le furberie di Spilletto	commedia per musica	3 acts	(Première libretto, in Italian)	1744-02 Carnival 1744	Florence, Teatro del Cocomero
Serba La serva padrona	opera buffa		Federico Gennaro Antonio Federico	1744-02 Carnival 1744	Naples
Moglie La moglie gelosa	commedia		Palomba Antonio Palomba	1745 1745	Naples, Teatro dei Fiorentini
Adriano Adriano in Siria	dramma per musica		Metastasio Pietro Metastasio	1746-02 Carnival 1746	Florence, Teatro della Pergola
Artaserse Artaserse	dramma per musica	3 acts	Metastasio Pietro Metastasio (Première libretto, in Italian)	1746 1746	Venice, Teatro di San Giovanni Crisostomo)
Pelopida Pelopida	dramma per musica	3 acts	Roccaforte Gaetano Roccaforte (Première libretto, in Italian)	1747-02 Carnival 1747	Rome, Teatro Argentina
Alessandro Alessandro nelle Indie	dramma per musica	3 acts	Metastasio Pietro Metastasio (Première libretto, in Italian)	1747-07 July 1747	Ancona, Teatro La Fenice
Arianna Arianna e Teseo	dramma per musica	3 acts	Pariati Pietro Pariati (Première libretto, in Italian)	1748-12-26 26 December 1748	Rome, Teatro delle Dame
Tito Tito Manlio	dramma per musica		Roccaforte Gaetano Roccaforte	1751-05-30 30 May 1751	Naples, Teatro San Carlo
Erifile Erifile	dramma per musica	3 acts	Neri Giovanni Battista Neri (Première libretto, in Italian)	1752-02 Carnival 1752	Rome, Teatro delle Dame
Lucio Lucio Vero o sia Il Vologeso	opera seria		Zeno Apostolo Zeno	1752-12-18 18 December 1752	Naples, Teatro San Carlo
Medo Il Medo	dramma per musica		Frugoni Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni	1753-00 1753	Turin, Teatro Regio

References

• Stabat Mater Gerolamo Abos ed. Joseph Vella Bondin Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 68, A-R Editions, Inc., Middleton, Wisconsin 2003, ISBN 978-0-89579-531-1.
• Nicolas Slonimsky, ed. (1958). "Abos, Girolamo". Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (5th ed.). pp. 3–4.
• Hanns-Bertold Dietz, Joseph Vella Bondin, "Abos, Girolamo ", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London: Macmillan, 2001). ISBN 0-333-60800-3.

External links

• Free scores by Girolamo Abos at the International Music Score Library Project