200 YEARS FROM THE PUBLICATION OF THE “ODES” BY ANDREAS KALVOS

As previously announced, since the beginning of the year, the Corfu Studies Society (Solomos Museum) has been organizing a series of events for Andreas Kalvos, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the publication of his “Odes” (lectures and museum-educational events).

As part of these lectures, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 20:00, Mr. Periklis Pangratis, President of the Corfu Studies Society, will deliver a lecture titled: “‘Hope of the homeland’ – a precursor to the Odes of Andreas Kalvos.”

The ode “Hope of the Homeland” is the first poem written in Greek by Andreas Kalvos (1792-1869). Although it was published in England in 1819, it remained undiscovered for one hundred and eighty-four years. In 2003, it was discovered by the Cypriot poet, philologist, and Kalvos scholar, Leucios Zafiriou (1948-2022), in the library of the University of Glasgow. Initially, the research was conducted at the British Library online with the assistance of seventeen-year-old student Teucros Hacholiadis. The journey to England dispelled any remaining doubts: it was indeed the poem in Greek, which Andreas Kalvos had dedicated to Guilford.

The “Zafiriou finding” was first published by the Corfiot periodical Porphyra in a special insert in October 2003, and since then it has become widely known throughout Greece. The poem is dedicated to Frederick North, Earl of Guilford, for the impending establishment of the Ionian Academy, of which Guilford had been appointed chancellor. The hope for the education and freedom of the Greeks was now alive. As an ode, it was considered the “cornerstone” of Andreas Kalvos’ “Odes,” because it contains fundamental elements of his poetry. In any case, it is a precursor to the Odes of the Lyre in 1824 and the Lyrics in 1826, which establish Andreas Kalvos as a great Greek poet – the poet who, along with Dionysios Solomos, shaped the course of modern Greek poetry.

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Lecture “Elpis Patridos” for Andreas Kalvos, April 17, 2024.

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