Abos [Geronimo], Girolamo (Matteo)

(b Valetta, 16 Nov 1715; d Naples, Oct

1760). Maltese composer and teacher. His grandfather, who was
French, settled in Malta in 1661. Abos's cousin Carol Farrugia paid
for him to go to Naples as a child and receive his musical training at
the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Ges. An entry in the 1729 account
book of the institution lists a payment to a Maltese maggiore for
copying a new work by Sig Francesco Durante, Dixit. Abos's
principal teachers at the conservatory would have been first Gaetano
Greco, then Durante and Gerolimo Ferrara (not Leonardo Leo). His
first opera for Naples was Le due zingare simili, an opera
buffa staged at the Teatro Nuovo in 1742. In the same year he took
teaching posts at two Neapolitan conservatories: the Poveri di Ges
Cristi, where he succeeded Alfonso Caggi as secondo maestro and
assisted Francesco Feo until the institution was dissolved in 1743,
and the S Onofrio a Capuana, where he remained until his death,
serving first with Ignazio Prota and Leonardo Leo, then with
Francesco Durante, and finally with Carlo Cotumacci and Joseph
Doll. In 1754 he also became secondo maestro at the conservatory
Piet dei Turchini, but retired from the post on 11 July 1759 and was
succeeded by Pasquale Cafaro. He also served as maestro di
cappella at several important Neapolitan churches. On 29 May 1752
he had married Angela Maria Gauttier, by whom he had two children.
Abos was a respected composer whose opera buffe and serie were
performed in Italy and beyond, although with varying degrees of
success. In 1756 his opera seria Tito Manlio (Naples, 1751) was
presented in London. According to Burney, however, it was
performed but once; the parts being probably ill cast, and the songs
unfit for any but the singers for whom they were originally
composed. It seems unlikely that Abos was the maestro al
cembalo for the London revival as has been claimed. Walsh printed
some favourite airs from the opera, but Burney commented that
none were favoured by the public. Nevertheless, arias from his
operas continued to be included in pasticcios staged in London
(Love in a Village, 1763, and The Maid of the Mill, 1765). In his

church music Abos followed the example of Durante, striving for a

synthesis of the modern style and the traditions of sacred vocal
polyphony. In older literature (Villarosa, 1840), biographical
information about Girolamo Abos was confused with that on the
composer Giuseppe Avossa, and mistaken attributions exist among
manuscript copies. Abos's name was also attached to a number of
sacred works by Francesco Corbisieri (in I-Nc).
WORKS
music lost unless otherwise stated

operas
Le due zingare simili (ob, A. Palomba), Naples, Nuovo, spr. 1742; as pasticcio,
Palermo, 1745, lib I-Rli
Il geloso (commedia, Palomba), Naples, Fiorentini, spr. 1743
Le furberie di Spilletto (commedia), Florence, Cocomero, carn. 1744
La serva padrona (ob, A. Federico), Naples, 1744
La moglie gelosa (commedia, ?Palomba), Naples, Fiorentini, carn. 1745,
lib Rsc,GB-Lbl; as pasticcio (incl. music by E. Gasparrini), Foggia, spr. 1746, lib I-Mb
Adriano in Siria (dramma per musica, Metastasio), Florence, Pergola, carn. 1746
Artaserse (dramma per musica, P. Metastasio), Venice, S Giovanni Grisostomo,
carn. 1746
Pelopida (dramma per musica, G. Roccaforte), Rome, Argentina, carn. 1747, F-Pc;
arias, GB-Lbl
Alessandro nelle Indie (dramma per musica, Metastasio), Ancona, Fenice, July
1747, arias, F-Pc, GB-Lbl, I-MAC, Nc
Arianna e Teseo (dramma per musica, P. Pariati), Rome, Dame, 26 Dec 1748,
arias,F-Pc, I-Nc
Tito Manlio (dramma per musica, ?Roccaforte), Naples, S Carlo, 30 May 1751, I-Mc;
arias F-Pc, GB-Lbl, I-Mc, Nc
Erifile (dramma per musica, G.B. Neri), Rome, Dame, carn. 1752, arias, GB-Lbl
Lucio Vero o sia Il Vologeso (os, A. Zeno), Naples, S Carlo, 18 Dec 1752, A-Wn;
arias I-Rsc
Il Medo (dramma per musica, C.I. Frugoni), Turin, Regio, carn. 1753, A-Wn; arias IRsc
Doubtful: Andromeda (os), A-Wn
Arias in: Armida placata, Vienna, 1750, Wn; Nerone, 1753; Creso, London, 1758;
Love in a Village, London, 1763; The Maid of the Mill, London, 1765

sacred
all with instruments

La morte d'Abel (orat, P. Metastasio), Palermo, 1754; La sposa vincitrice de' sacri
cantici ovvero Il mondo debellato (melodramma)
Mass, 4vv, F-Pc, I-Nc; mass, 2 choirs, Nc; Ky, Gl, F-Pc, I-Nc; Magnificat, 4vv, AWn,I-Bc; Litaniae de BVM, 2vv, A-Wn, DMs, F-Pc; Lezione terza del Gioved
Santo, 1v, I-PAc
Adeste, ah non tardate, S, hns, vns, va, bc, Tf; Dixit Dominus, 4vv, 1750, Gl; Dixit

Dominus, 1758, 5vv, A-Wn, F-Pc (?autograph), I-Nc; Juravit Dominus, 5vv, Nc,
Stabat mater, 3vv, 1750, A-Wn, D-Ms, F-Pc, GB-Lbc, I-Nc; 2 Tantum ergo, 1v,
2vv,Nc; Veni Creator Spiritus, Nf, (?autograph)
Doubtful: Veni sponsa Christi, 4vv, Nc

other works
Arias, F-Pn, GB-Lbl, Lgc, D-Ms, I-Gl, Nc
Cantatas: Abbastanza finora le tue pompe, 4vv, insts, I-Tf, L'arca del testamento
atterra l'idolo Dagone, 1747, S, choir, insts, Tf
Sinfonia, 2vn, bc, Nc

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BurneyH
FellererP, 1669
GiacomoC
LoewenburgA
RosaM
G. Pavan: Saggio di cronistoria teatrale fiorentina (Milan, c1901)
U. Rolandi: Musica e musicisti in Malta (Livorno, 1932)
R. Weaver: A Chronology of Music in the Florentine Theatre
15901750 (Detroit, 1978), 309
G. Hardie: Neapolitan Comic Opera, 17071750: some
Addenda and Corrigenda for The New Grove, JAMS, xxxvi
(1983), 1247, esp. 125
J. Vella Bondin: Who was Girolamo Abos?, Sunday
Times (Malta), 17 March 1996
HANNS-BERTOLD DIETZ (with JOSEPH VELLA BONDIN)