North of Kalamata, the capital of the Messenia region on the Peloponnese, lies the small village of Neochori. What you would not expect to find here are the roots of the Greek opera singer Maria Callas (1923-1977).
The recent film"Maria"by Pablo Larraín, featuring Angelina Jolie as the opera singer Maria Callas, deals with the last weeks of her life before her death in Paris in 1977. Mainly filmed in Paris some scenes were filmed on the Peloponnes.
In order to find traces of the Callas family, one must travel into the Southern region of Messenia, northeast of Kalamata.
The small town of Neochori, with 210 inhabitants, belongs to the administrative district of Meligalas and one drives through it on the country road from Meligalas to the archaeological excavation site of Ancient Messene. In Meligalas one passes a mural of Maria Callas on the Philharmonic Hall of the Ichalia Municipality (Filarmoniki Dimoy Oichalias).
In the center of Neochori, at a large intersection, you can hardly miss a blue street sign with an arrow pointing to "Maria Kallas Father's House" - the house of the opera diva's father, George Kalogeropoulos. There is also a small tavern at the intersection with another sign indicating "Maria Callas 50 meters".
However, if you walk in the direction of the arrow to the supposed Kalogeropolous family dwelling, you will not find any further information about the house. On the left you can see a mural with a portrait of Callas on a private house wall. It is based on a well-known photo of the diva by Cecil Beaton from 1956, in which she has her hair tied back in a bun and is holding her head in her hands (see above). If you follow the street further, you pass smaller buildings, a kind of construction site with an almost completely dilapidated house and at the end of the street the Peter and Paul Chapel. Which of these buildings could possibly be the former Callas family home?
Unnoticed for years, the Kalerogopoulos family home was rediscovered by Greek director Babis Tsokas, who was filming a documentary in the area about archaeologist Petros Themelis. Tsokas was shocked that the house associated with such a well-known Greek figure was in such disrepair and encouraged discussion on the issue. He also took this as an opportunity to make a documentary film about the diva. “Our own Maria Callas” was created in 2017 and stars Greek actress Myrto Kamvisidi.
The former home of George Kalogeropoulos is now said to have been acquired by the regional administration. It is supposed to be rebuilt and converted into a museum, but this has not yet happened. Between 1937 and 1945, Callas is said to have visited her father's birthplace in Neochori, but there is no precise evidence of this.
Die Kalogeropoulos ("Callas") family
Maria Callas' father George Kalogeropoulos was born in Neochori in 1871 and later lived there with his wife Evangelia Litsa Dimitriadis. When his wife was pregnant with Maria, they both emigrated to the USA, together with Maria's older sister Yakinthi (Jackie). Maria's older brother Vassilis, born in 1920, had died at the age of two - a loss that his parents were never able to cope with. Their second daughter, Anna Maria Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou, was born on December 2, 1923 in Washington Heights, in a neighborhood near Manhattan. The last name on her birth certificate was "Kalos" because after her father opened a pharmacy in New York, he changed the family name first to "Kalos" and later to "Callas".
After her parents' marriage failed, Maria's mother returned to Greece with her two daughters in 1937. Maria was 13 years old at the time and a chubby teenager. Since Maria's mother recognized Maria's singing talent, she arranged for her to study music at the Athens Conservatory. Maria appeared on stage for the first time when she was just 15 years old. Her mother then had her audition with the soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who recognized the potential in her voice and trained her. During the Second World War, Callas performed in the Greek National Opera in Athens, earning money to support her mother and sister.
In 1945, Maria Callas returned to her father and the USA, where she hoped for better career opportunities. Ultimately, however, this path led her to Italy, after the Italian tenor Giovanni Zenatello noticed her. She got an engagement in Verona and appeared in La Fenice in Venice in 1949. As early as 1950 she sang at the Milan opera La Scala and became primadonna there. "Tosca" was recorded in 1953 and is still one of their most famous recordings today. To this day, she is best known for reproducing the arias with emotion and thus adding her own interpretation.
In Italy, Callas met her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini, whom she married in 1949 and who became her manager. He was 28 years her senior. At the beginning of her career, Callas had rejected the role of Madame Butterfly because she felt too fat for it. Perhaps out of false ambition, she starved herself to 35 kilos and then subjected herself to constant diets. At the age of 33, her voice began to suffer.
In 1959 she left her husband and began a seven-year affair with the Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis, which was characterized by passion and suffering. Callas's opera career suffered, her voice broke away, she appeared for the last time as Tosca in 1965 and settled in Paris, where she died on September 16, 1977.
The “Maria Callas” music school in Kalamata, near the waterfront, is worth a detour. You can get there by turning from the Navarinou harbor road into Georgiou Karelia, which leads north.
There is a small exhibition there that commemorates one of the most famous opera divas of the 20th century. You learn something about individual aspects of her life and also see personal letters to her father and well-known personalities.
Read More: In our book"Peloponnes".
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