Johannes [Giovanni] Abbas [Abbate] {Paul III-Pius V}
Tenor; no diocese (San Germano); formerly in the Cappella Giulia (December 1534-May 1535 ); admitted 6 July 1535 along with Paolo Bursanis and Mattia Fioran; mandati : June 1535 -November 1568 (name crossed out in December 1568 ); died 28 October 1568 in Rome and was buried in the church of San Marcello; a funeral Mass was celebrated in that church on 11 November 1568.
In notes made for the commission of cardinals in 1565, Abbate was described as being a gambler with an average voice ["lusor sed eveliens [?] musicus pauper vocis mediocris"--Document 1.16] and was retained in the choir. He is responsible for the "si placet" fifth voice added to the third Agnus of the copy of Josquin's Missa l'Homme armé super voces musicales in VatS 154, and possibly for the entire "Et in spiritum" section added to that copy of the Mass as well (edited in SMIJERS).
DOCUMENTS
DS 1
15v: entry dated 6 July 1535 [CASIMIRI (1924), p. 95]
Fuerunt admissi in cantores Joannes Ab.te, Mathias de Tervisio et Paulus [Bursa]nis.
16v: entry dated 8 August 1535 [CASIMIRI (1924), p. 96]
Joannes Abbate soluit decem ducatos pro suis regalibus et duos pro superpellitio suo.
DS 8
82r: entry dated 28 October 1568
Eodem die d. Jo Abbas defunctus est, fuit sepultus in Sancto Marcello omnes fuimus presentes.
83v: entry dated 11 November 1568
Cantavimus missam in Sancto Marcello propter obsequias do. Joanni Abas omnes fuimus presentes.
EDITION: SMIJERS, Albert. Werken van Josquin des Prés: Missen Deel I (Amsterdam: Alsback & Co., 1926)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: CELANI, p. 97; CASIMIRI; FREY , Herman-Walther. Die Diarien der Sixtinsichen Kapelle in Rom der Jahre 1560 und 1561 (Diarium 5 fol. 156-192, Diarium 6) (Düsseldorf:Musikverlag Schwann, 1959), pp. 130-131; SHERR, Richard, "Competence and Incompetence in the Papal Chapel in the Age of Palestrina," Early Music 32 (1994): 607-29.