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Biography Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in Taganrog on January 17 (29), 1860, died on July 2 (15), 1904 in Badenweiler (Southern Germany).
He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Father Pavel Egorovich Chekhov (1825-1898).
Mother Evgenia Yakovlevna Chekhov (nee Morozova) (1835-1919)
Brothers and sisters: Alexander writer, linguist (1855-1913); Nikolai artist (1858 -1889); Mikhail writer, lawyer (1868-1936); Ivan was a teacher (a famous Moscow teacher) (1861-1922); Maria was a landscape artist (1863-1957).
All the Chekhov children were exceptionally gifted, highly educated people.
His father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, was a very interesting person.
He had a grocery store in Taganrog, being a merchant of the 3rd guild, but he was engaged in trade without much zeal, paying more attention to attending church services, singing and public affairs.
The situation in the Chekhov house was traditionally patriarchal: children were brought up in strictness, corporal punishment was often used, no one was allowed to do nothing.
In addition to studying at the gymnasium, Pavel Yegorovich's sons sometimes had to replace their father in the shop, of course to the detriment of their studies.
In the evenings, they sang in a choir.
My father played the violin perfectly, sang, Masha accompanied on the piano, in general, whole musical family performances were arranged.
Mother Evgenia Yakovlevna, a wonderful hostess, very caring and loving, lived exclusively the life of children and her husband.
But, at the same time, she passionately loved the theater, although she visited it infrequently.
In her early youth, she was sent to the Taganrog private boarding school for noble girls, where she studied manners, dancing and good manners.
Yevgenia Yakovlevna had a huge influence on the formation of the characters of her children, educating them with responsiveness, respect and compassion for the weak, the oppressed, love for nature and the world.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov later said that " the talent in us is from the father's side, and the soul is from the mother's side."
In 1876, the Chekhov family moved to Moscow.
Trade in Taganrog became unprofitable, Pavel Egorovich went bankrupt and had to flee from creditors.
In Moscow, the Chekhov family has been living in severe poverty for a long time, almost three years.
Despite this, all the children continued to study, and Anton, earning a living by tutoring, remained until the end of his studies at the gymnasium in Taganrog and came to Moscow only in 1879 in order to immediately enter the medical faculty of Moscow University, where he listened to lectures by famous professors N. Sklifosovsky, G. Zakharin, etc.
In 1880, his first printed work appeared in N9 10 of the magazine "Dragonfly".
Since that time, the continuous literary activity of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov begins.
He collaborates with the magazines "Spectator", "Alarm Clock", "Light and Shadows", "Worldly sense", "Fragments".
He writes mainly in the genre of short stories, humorous stories, skits, signing with a pseudonym Antosha Chehonte or a Man without a spleen.
In 1884, Chekhov's first book of theatrical short stories, The Tales of Melpomene, was published.
After graduating from the university, Chekhov begins the practice of a district doctor in Voskresensk (now the city of Istra), in the hospital of the famous doctor P. A. Arkhangelsk.
There are such stories as "The Fugitive", "Surgery".
Then Chekhov works in Zvenigorod, temporarily managing the hospital.
There are themes for such stories as "The Dead Body", "At the autopsy", "The Siren".
Since the spring of 1885, the Chekhov family has been coming to the Babkino estate, near Voskresensk (Chekhov's Istra), to their good friends and stays there for a long time.
This was best reflected in the work of Anton Pavlovich.
Beautiful nature, conversations about music, art, literature, friendship with the artist Levitan.
Chekhov works hard and fruitfully.
On his return to Moscow, in 1886, Chekhov receives an encouraging letter from the writer D. V. Grigorovich, goes to St. Petersburg to express his respect and gratitude.
In St. Petersburg, he unexpectedly receives an invitation to work from the famous publisher A. S. Suvorin in the newspaper Novoe Vremya.
Collections of works of this time — "Motley stories" (1886), "Innocent Speeches" (1887).
With the beginning of regular cooperation with the newspaper, Chekhov renounces the pseudonym and signs his full name.
In 1887, Chekhov's first play "Ivanov"was staged.
It was first staged in Moscow at the Korsh Theater, which is very popular with the Moscow public.
F. A. Korsh a passionate theater lover, a writer and translator of plays, a very enterprising person, built a theater in Bogoslovsky Lane in 1882 in a very short time.
During the ten year activity of the theater, in which the famous V. N. Davydov, Glama — Meshcherskaya, Rybchinskaya, Martynova, Kosheva, Krasovskaya, who made up a rare acting ensemble, played, more than one and a half million viewers watched the performances, and more than five hundred plays were staged.
The main merit of Korsh was that he introduced morning public performances from the classical repertoire, which were willingly attended by young people.
On November 19, the premiere of Chekhov's play "Ivanov"took place.
The reaction of the public was mixed: someone loudly applauded, someone shushed, some jumped up from their seats and stamped their feet, and a massacre just began in the gallery.
But in general, the performance was a success, although motley.
Chekhov was noticed, the dramaturgy and the idea of the play turned out to be new and interesting.
The official dramatic activity of the writer began.
In St. Petersburg, "Ivanov" was in a somewhat corrected form.
In 1888, the Chekhov family settled on Luka, near Sum, Kharkiv province, at the dacha of the Lintvarev landowners, to spend spring and summer there.
Chekhov needed new places and new subjects for his works, and, moreover, the cough began to torment the writer more and more often.
Anton Pavlovich receives his friends of writers at the dacha: Pleshcheyev, Barantsevich, the book publisher Suvorin.
With Suvorin, Chekhov begins a real friendship that lasted for many years.
The Chekhov family spends another summer on Luka, in 1889, but it is overshadowed by the death of the writer's brother, Nikolai.
This event had a strong effect on Chekhov, he, soon after the funeral, leaves Luka, begins to gather abroad, but finds himself in Odessa.
The Maly Theater toured here, and Chekhov met a young artist Panova, for whom later, already in Moscow, they tried unsuccessfully to woo him.
After Odessa, Chekhov goes to Yalta, he is overcome by depression.
In Yalta, there is an acquaintance with the Shavrov sisters, with one of whom, Elena Mikhailovna, a writer, Chekhov subsequently corresponds, takes care of the publication of her works, gives professional advice.
Returning to Moscow, on Sadovo Kudrinekaya, Chekhov actively takes up literary work.
Soon from the pen of Anton Pavlovich comes "A boring story" and the play "Leshiy".
The play "Leshiy" was unsuccessfully staged, Chekhov removed it from the repertoire, and, a few years later, remade it, giving a new name — "Uncle Vanya".
In the house on Sadovo — Kudrinskaya there are also written: the story "The Steppe", the vaudeville" The Bear"," The Swan Song", more than a hundred stories.
And this despite the fact that there were almost always guests in the house.
On the second floor, young people were jostling, the piano was playing, conversations were going on, and at this time, on the first floor, Chekhov was sitting at a table and writing.
In this house, Chekhov meets L. S. Mizinova, the "beautiful Face", as he later called her.
Very beautiful, funny, smart, Lika became a favorite of the Chekhov family.
The Chekhov house was visited by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Grigorovich, well known artists at that time A. P. Lensky and V. N. Davydov, the publisher Leikin, the writer N. S. Leskov.
Chekhov dedicated the fourth collection of short stories "Gloomy People" to Tchaikovsky.
In 1888, by the decision of the Academy of Sciences, the writer received a half Pushkin Prize for the third collection of short stories "At Dusk".
Despite his increasing fame and huge literary successes, Chekhov is dissatisfied with himself, he strives not for fame, but for creative activity.
In 1890, Chekhov went to Siberia, then to visit the island of Sakhalin -the place of exile of convicts to hard labor.
The writer fully reflected the journey along the Siberian rivers and roads in his essays "Across Siberia".
The ascetic work was carried out by Chekhov on Sakhalin.
He made a census of the island's population, making about 10 thousand statistical cards.
A huge amount of documentary material was collected about the work and life of Sakhalin convicts and local residents, about prison bosses and official arbitrariness.
Chekhov visited prisons, studied their technical and sanitary condition in detail, met and talked with many people.
After returning from Sakhalin, Chekhov systematized his notes and wrote the book "Sakhalin Island".
This work caused a huge resonance in Russia.
Officials paid attention to Sakhalin.
The Ministry of Justice and the Main Prison Administration sent their representatives to Sakhalin.
Sakhalin doctor N. S. Lobas noted: "With the light hand of Chekhov, both Russian and foreign researchers began to visit Sakhalin."
The route of the Sakhalin trip is as follows: from Yaroslavl along the Volga to Kazan, then along the Kama to Perm, from there by rail to Tyumen, and then across Siberia on a tarantass and along the rivers.
Chekhov stayed on Sakhalin for more than three months, then through the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, visiting Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ceylon, Constantinople, arriving at the port of Odessa, he returns to Moscow by train.
After a while, essay notes "From Siberia" and "Sakhalin Island" appear, as well as such works as "Gusev", "Women", "In Exile", "The Story of an Unknown Person", "Murder".
Life in Moscow after such a trip seems uninteresting to Chekhov, and he goes to St. Petersburg to meet with Suvorin.
They decide to go to Western Europe together and visit Vienna, Bologna, Venice, from which Chekhov is delighted, as well as Florence, Rome, Naples, where the writer climbed Mount Vesuvius.
From Nice, Anton Pavlovich goes to Monte Carlo, where he loses 900 francs at roulette, then to Paris.
On his return, Chekhov goes to Aleksin, where his younger brother Mikhail has rented a dacha on the banks of the Oka.
But soon the Chekhov's change their place, moving to the Bogimovo estate, owned by the local landowner E. D. Bylim Kolosovsky.
The estate was magnificent, with huge rooms, a beautiful garden, lime alleys, ponds.
The writer was delighted.
Every morning he got up at four o'clock, drank coffee and sat down to work, and not at his desk, but behind the windowsill.
The "Duel" was written here, the Sakhalin notes were systematized.
Chekhov worked until eleven o'clock, then went to the forest for mushrooms or fishing.
At one o'clock the family had lunch, and at three Chekhov went back to work until the evening.
In the evenings, one of the local summer residents, the zoologist Wagner, who later became a famous professor, often came to visit.
With him, debates began on the topics of degeneracy, the right of the strong, etc., and it was Wagner who was the prototype of von Koren in the "Duel".
In 1891/92, part of the central part of Russia and the Volga region experienced severe famine due to crop failure and drought.
Chekhov organizes a collection of donations for the benefit of the starving Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh provinces, he himself went there twice.
Chekhov is outraged that there are no objective articles in the newspapers about the situation in the village, that correspondents know the village "only by Gleb Uspensky".
At this time, Chekhov is writing the story "The Wife".
In 1892, Chekhov bought an estate in Melikhovo.
An old dream to live in the village, to be a landowner has come true.
The estate was located in se the village of Melikhovo, Serpukhov district, Moscow province, was in a neglected state, but it cost Chekhov relatively inexpensive.
So, in March, a family consisting of father, mother, sister Maria and Anton Pavlovich himself moved to Melikhovo.
At first, their younger brother Mikhail lives with them.
Immediately, work began on the arrangement of the house, the territory.
Chekhov took up the task with great enthusiasm, the new life fascinated him.
In the Chekhov house, everyone had their own economic role: Pavel Yegorovich, a handsome old man, once a strict, exacting and somewhat despotic educator, now fully recognized the primacy of Anton Pavlovich.
His tasks included taking care of the garden.
Her mother, Yevgenia Yakovlevna, kept house, got up earlier and went to bed later than everyone else.
Sister Maria was engaged in gardening, while she regularly went to Moscow, as she worked as a teacher in a gymnasium.
Mikhail was engaged in field farming, he even transferred to the service in Serpukhov to be closer to Melikhov.
Pavel Yegorovich begins to keep his diary — a concise chronicle of Melikhov's life, reflecting the state of nature, the economy, the visits of numerous guests, the arrivals and departures of relatives.
The Melikhovsky period is not only Chekhov's inspired literary work and active medical practice, it is a colossal social activity of the writer.
During the cholera epidemic, Chekhov works as a zemstvo doctor, serving 25 villages.
He opens a medical center at his own expense in Melikhov, receiving many patients and supplying them with medicines.
In Melikhov and its environs, Chekhov is building three schools for peasant children, a bell tower and a fire shed for peasants, participates in the construction of a highway to Lopasnya, petitions for fast trains to stop at the Lopasna railway station, and also seeks the opening of a post office and telegraph there.
In addition, it organizes the planting of thousands of cherry trees, sows bare forest areas with larches, elms, maples, pines and oaks.
In Melikhov, Chekhov comes up with the idea of creating a public library in his native Taganrog.
The writer donates there more than 2 thousand volumes of his own books, among which there are many unique publications with autographs of museum value, and also makes a gallery of portraits of scientists and artists for the library.
Subsequently, Chekhov constantly sends the books he buys to the library, and in large quantities.
Despite the difficult road (sometimes it was necessary to walk 12 versts from the station), guests constantly came to the Chekhov's.
The artist Levitan often visited, drawing inspiration from the modest Melikhovsky landscapes, many writers, artists, musicians, people of science, older brothers with families, relatives from Taganrog visited.
Actresses came: O. L. Knipper, T. L. Shchepkina Kupernik, D. M. Musina Pushkin.
Maria Pavlovna's friends, the artists Khotyaintsev and Drozdov, and, of course, Lika Mizinov, often visited.
Chekhov does not lead the life of a village recluse.
He often goes to Moscow and St. Petersburg, where he meets with writers, artists, artists, visits theaters, concerts, visits the editorial offices of magazines and newspapers, takes part in literary evenings, anniversaries, official dinners, etc.
In general, the appearance of Chekhov causes a great resonance in creative circles.
In 1895, Chekhov visited Yasnaya Polyana to meet L. N. Tolstoy, who had been waiting for this for a long time.
Subsequently, Chekhov and Tolstoy often meet in the Crimea.
In Melikhovo, despite the endless round dance of guests, by the way, not always welcome and tactful, Chekhov constantly writes.
In 1894, he built a small wooden wing, about which he himself wrote in one of his letters: "My wing turned out to be small, but amazing."
Initially, the cozy house, surrounded by berry bushes, was intended for guests, but soon became the writer's study.
When Chekhov was at home, a flag was raised over the wing.
It was here that "The Seagull"was written.
In 1896, the premiere of the play took place on the stage of the St. Petersburg Alexandriysky Theater, but the performance was not a success.
Chekhov was very hard going through an unsuccessful production.
In 1898, "The Seagull" was staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater and was an ongoing success.
In general, in the Melikhovsky period (1992 — 1998), the following were created: "Ward No. b", "The Man in the case", "Babye Tsardom", "A case from practice", "Ionich", "Gooseberry", a large "village cycle" of works was written, such as" Men"," On a cart"," New Dacha"," On service affairs", the story" Three years", the plays" The Seagull","Uncle Vanya".
It was during these years that Chekhov wrote more than one and a half thousand letters to various recipients.
In 1897, Chekhov's tuberculosis process sharply worsened, and he was forced to go to the hospital.
His health, already weak, undermined by a trip to Sakhalin, has deteriorated so much that the doctors insist on moving Chekhov to the south.
During the autumn and winter of 1897/98, the writer lived in Nice, then in Paris, where he met the famous sculptor M. M. Antokolsky.
Chekhov persuades Antokolsky to create a monument to the founder of the city, Peter the Great, for Taganrog.
The negotiations are going well, Chekhov organizes the bronze casting of the statue and its delivery through the port of Marseille to Taganrog.
In May 1898, Chekhov returned to his homeland and went to Melikhovo.
Here he lives until September, until the autumn dampness began, and then he goes to Yalta.
There Chekhov acquires a plot of land two kilometers from the embankment in the village of Outka.
In October, Chekhov learns about the death of his father.
He writes to his sister: "...
The sad news, completely unexpected, saddened and shocked me deeply.
I feel sorry for my father, I feel sorry for all of you... it seems to me that after my father's death, there will no longer be the same housing in Melikhov, as if the flow of Melikhov's life also stopped with his diary."
In Yalta, Chekhov begins the construction of a house.
The money for the construction came from the sale of works to the famous book publisher Marx.
Soon, a beautiful dacha was built according to the project of the architect Shapovalov. (Chekhov Garden)
Chekhov enthusiastically engaged in the improvement of the site, planted trees.
The winter of 1899 in the Crimea was extremely severe, with snow and sea storms.
The writer longed for Moscow, where at that time his plays were successfully performed, his creative life was in full swing.
In the spring, he goes to Moscow, then to Melikhovo.
But, at the end of August, he again finds himself in the Crimea.
The estate in Melikhov is sold, and Chekhov with his mother and sister finally moves to live in Yalta.
Here he begins an active social activity: as a local resident, he is elected to the board of trustees of the women's gymnasium, donates 500 rubles for the construction of a school in Mukholatka, takes care of the device of the first biological station.
In Yalta, being seriously ill with tuberculosis himself, he works in the Guardianship of visiting patients.
At that time, many consumptive people came to Yalta, and almost without money, only because they had heard about Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who helps to get settled and can even arrange for a residence permit for people of Jewish nationality.
In the late 1890s and early 1900s, G. Chekhov was a recognized master, his works cause a lot of literary disputes and, as a result, a socio political resonance.
Chekhov poses questions of conscience and responsibility for his life to himself and readers.
He writes: "A writer is not a pastry chef, not a cosmetics manufacturer, not a entertainer; he is a man who is obliged, contracted by the consciousness of his duty and conscience."
This is Chekhov's life and writing credo.
In 1900, Chekhov was elected an honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
But in 1902, Chekhov left its ranks as a sign of disagreement with the Academy's decision to expel Gorky because of his political unreliability.
On this occasion, V. G. Korolenko, with whom he had long standing friendly relations, comes to Chekhov in Yalta.
A. P. Chekhov, A.M. Gorky and the troupe of the Art Theater in Yalta during the theater's tour in the Crimea (1900).
In the spring of 1900, the Moscow Art Theater came to the Crimea on tour.
Chekhov goes to Sevastopol, where they give him "Uncle Vanya" especially for him.
Later, the theater moved to Yalta, and the most interesting people began to gather in the house on the Outka: Bunin, Gorky, Kuprin; every day the Chekhov family has the entire theater troupe.
Soon the theater returns to Moscow.
But already in July, Olga Leonardovna Knipper, the leading actress of the Moscow Art Theater, the first performer of roles in Chekhov's plays, whom Chekhov met at rehearsals in 1898 and subsequently actively corresponded, again goes to Yalta to visit the writer.
They spend the whole of July together, and during this time their future life together is determined.
Chekhov spent the winter of 1900-1901 in Nice.on treatment, then goes to Italy, and in February returns to Yalta.
On May 25, A. P. Chekhov and O. L. Knipper were married.
Immediately after the wedding, Olga Leonardovna takes her husband to the Ufa province for kumys — it was believed that he helps with consumption.
Chekhov is already very weak, but despite the painful illness, he continues to write, meet people, help everyone he can.
"I despise laziness, just as I despise the weakness and lethargy of spiritual movements," he once said about himself.
The play "Three Sisters" (1901) was written and staged.
Chekhov mainly lives in Yalta, although autumn and a windy, wet winter spent in a poorly heated house do not add to Anton Pavlovich's health.
In November 1901, he wrote to his wife: "My office has an ordinary temperature of + 12 and rarely + 13.
You canot light the fireplace, because the fireplace hurts my eyes.
And it is difficult to work at 12 degrees."
The couple did not see each other for a long time several months, since Olga Leonardovna was busy at the theater, and Chekhov had to stay in Yalta on the orders of doctors.
These separations were painful for both of them.
Chekhov wrote to his wife: "If we are not together now, then it is not me and not you who are to blame for this, but the demon who put the bacilli in me, and the love of art in you."
In general, Chekhov's correspondence with Knipper is an amazing evidence of their relationship: there is so much tenderness, love, respect, care for each other, sometimes poorly hidden pain from the inability to be together.
The letters reflect the history of the development of the Moscow Art Theater, where Chekhov is its main author, and Knipper is the performer of the main roles; an interesting exchange of opinions about literature, writers, actors, in general, about the artistic life of that time.
The heroes of the letters are Gorky, Bunin, Tolstoy, Stanislavsky, Nemirovich Danchenko, Chaliapin, Komissarzhevskaya, Meyerhold and other famous personalities.
Sometimes Chekhov visited Moscow
In 1904, another Chekhov play "The Cherry Orchard"was staged.
Knipper plays Ranevskaya.
Like the role of Masha in "Three Sisters", the role of Ranevskaya was the pinnacle of the actress ' creative rise.
"The Cherry Orchard" is the last work of the great writer and playwright.
The tuberculosis process worsens so much that in May 1904 Chekhov leaves Yalta and together with his wife goes to Badenweiler , a famous resort in the south of Germany.
But there could be no question of recovery, here Chekhov only temporarily relieved his suffering.
On July 15 (1st according to the Art. style), at the second hour of the night, Chekhov felt especially bad.
When the doctor came to answer the call, he said firmly: "I'm dying."
Then he asked for champagne, slowly drained the glass, lay down, turned on his left side, and soon died.
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