Family Group Sheet
Family Group Sheet
NameMichael Dimitrios (Dimitrios) Calvocoressi, 8G Grandson
Birth2 Oct 1877, Marseille, France
MemoBut does not appear in the Marseille records. May have been born on Syros in 1878...
Death1 Feb 1944, London, England
OccupationWriter and critic.
OriginGreece. Took British citizenship 18 May 1925 while resident in London.
Note 1He met Ravel in 1898 and after an initial period of mutual suspicion they became lifelong friends. It was Calvocoressi who provided Ravel with the folk texts for his ‘Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques’.
Note 2Educated in France, Calvocoressi was a skilled linguist and wrote in several languages. He published books on Liszt (1906), Moussorgsky (1908), Glinka (1911), Schumann (1912), as well translations into English.
Note 3After WWl, he moved to England. ‘On Musical Criticism’ was published in 1923 (OUP), and ‘Musicians Gallery’ in 1933. Ravel dedicated to him ‘Alborada del Gracioso’ in Miroirs.
Note 4Worked for the War Office in London during WWl, dealing with postal censorship when he joined British Intelligence (presumably MI5 or, more likely, MI6).
Note 5He is referred to in Alan Judd’s ‘The Quest for C - Mansfield Cumming and the foundation of the Secret Service’.
Flags***, Argenti, Avierino, Calvocoressi, Giustiniani Fi, Giustiniani Pi, Grimaldi, Mavrogordato, Maximo, Petrocochino, Ralli (Chaviara), Rodocanachi, Sevastopoulos, Zygomala
FatherDimitrios (Nicolas) Calvocoressi (1836-1880)
MotherMaria (Michael) Zygomala (1854-)
Marriage24 May 1916, Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St Sophia, Moscow Road, Bayswater, London, England
SpouseEthel (Gabriel) Silverman
Birth1889, Paddington, London, England
Death2 Dec 1957, Chelsea, London, England
MemoProbate.
Note 1Presumably her marriage to Dimitrios was not approved of by his family (or hers?) since their sole witness (unusual) is a member of the clergy... and the marriage record is not reproduced in Argenti’s ‘Libro d’Oro...
Note 2She was born in Paddington in the June quarter of 1889, in a Jewish family which had emigrated to England about 1873 from Roumania. She died in Chelsea in the December quarter of 1957.
Note 3Har Jewish parents emigrated from Romania to England ca. 1873.
Marr. WitnessA. D. Christodoulo.
FatherGabriel Silverman (~1833-~1898)
MotherBertha ‘Bassy’ [Silverman] (~1846-1916)