I was glad to read that a reason why Kenneth Zammit Tabona (February 15) wished to establish a baroque festival in Malta was precisely because he “was very much aware of the relatively untapped stashes of ‘Maltese’ music in our archives”.

Likewise, I was pleased that “the tercentenary of the birth of Maltese composer Geronimo [Girolamo] Abos will be appropriately celebrated during next year’s baroque festival”. I do not know what “appropriately” involves but given that Abos was lauded as a composer of operas as well as of liturgical music, it should include both.

Tito Manlio and Pelopide are his two best operas. Tito Manlio’s score is archived in the Biblioteca del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, with another copy in the Austrian Nationalbibliotech in Vienna. Pelopide is included in IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library), a virtual library of public domain music scores.

This library also has the original score of the composer’s liturgical masterpiece, the Stabat Mater, which I had the pleasure of editing for A-R Editions, Wisconsin, USA, in both critical and performing versions, the first work by a Maltese composer made available for worldwide distribution and performance. But there are many other Abos sacred works archived in European libraries. Catalogues can be downloaded. These catalogues may also include works by Giuseppe Arena (1707-1784), the other great Maltese baroque composer who, like Abos, made a name for himself in Italy.

His most important claim to fame was his introduction of more than four roles in the finale of the opera buffa. A good example is in Il vecchio deluso, his most admired opera, whose libretto designates him ‘celebrated maestro’ in the service to the Prince of Bisignano.