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