BIOGRAPHY: ANTON CHEKHOV (1860-1904)

Born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, Anton Pavlovich C would eventually become one of Russia's most cherished storytellers. Especially fond of vaudevilles and French farces, he produced some hilarious one-acts, but it is his full-lengtragedies that have secured him a place among the greatest dramatists of all time.

of Moscow. After graduating in 1884 with a degree in medicine, he began to freelance as a journalist and writer of comic sketches. Early in his career, he mastered the form of the one-act and produced several masterpieces of this genre including The Bear (1888) in whica creditor hounds a young widow, but becomes so impressed when she agrees to fight a duel with him, that he proposes marriage, and The Wedding (1889) in which a bridegroomplans to have a general attend his wedding ceremony backfire when the general turns out to be a retired naval captain "of the second rank".

suicide of a young man very similar to Chekhov himself in many ways. His next play, The Wood Demon (1888) was also fairly unsuccessful. In fact, it was not until the Moscow Art Theater production of The Seagull (1897) that Chekhov enjoyed his first overwhelming success. The same play had been performed two years earlier at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and had been so badly received that Chekhov had actually left theauditorium during the second act and vowed never to write for the theatre again. But in the hands of the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was transformed into a critical success, and Chekhov soon realized that the earlier production had failed because the actors had not understood their roles.

(1899). Along with The Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), this play would go on to become one of the masterpieces of the modern theatre. However, although the Moscow Art Theatre productions brought Chekhov great fame, he was never quite happy with the style that director Constantin Stanislavskyimposed on the plays. While Chekhov insisted that his plays were comedies, Stanislavsky's productions tendeto emphasize their tragic elements. Still, in spite of their stylistic disagreements, it was not an unhappy marriage, and these productions brought widespread acclaim to both Chekhov's work and the Moscow Art Theatre itself.

in turn-of-the-century Russia. Perhaps Chekhov's style was described best by the poet himself when he wrote:

are!' The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this different life does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again and again: 'Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary!'"

he had suffered a lung hemorrhaage, and although he still made occasional trips to Moscow to participate in the productions of his plays, he was forced to spend most of his time in the Crimea where he had gone for his health. He died of tuberculosis on July 14, 1904, at the age of forty-four, in a German health resort and was buried in Moscow. Since his death, Chekhov's plays have become famous worldwide and he has come to be considered the greatest Russian storyteller and dramatist of modern times. Courtesy Moonstruck Drama, 2008 

Anton Chekhov – Timeline 1860-1904

1860 - Born January 29 in Taganrog, Russia.

1876 – Chekhov’s father declares bankruptcy and flees to Moscow where his two eldest sons are living. He takes the whole family with him apart from Anton (Chekhov) whom he leaves behind to finish his education and sell off remaining possessions.

1879 - Chekhov re-joins his family in Moscow, having gained a place at Moscow Medical University. Having settled in Moscow Chekhov assumes reponsibility for the family and supports both them an himself through writing short stories.

1887 – Chekhov wins the Pushkin Prize for “best literary production distinguished by high artistic worth.”

1894 – Chekhov starts writing The Seagull in his country villa in Melikhovo

1896 – The Seagull premiers at the Alexandrinsky Theatre and is a fiasco booed by the audience and rediculed by critics. Chekhov renounces theatre.

However the play catches the attention of another playwright Nemirovich-Danchenko who is so impressed by it he convinces Constantin Stanislavski to direct it for the innovative Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. Stanislavski's attention to psychological realism and ensemble playing coaxed the buried subtleties from the text and restored Chekhov's interest in playwriting. The Art Theatre commissioned more plays from Chekhov and the following year staged Uncle Vanya, which Chekhov had completed in 1896. Chekhov and Stanislavski become great collaborators and work together for the rest of Chekhov’s life.

1897 – Chekhov suffers a major lung haemorrhage of the lungs and with great diffculty is admitted to hospital. The doctors diagnose tuberculosis in the upper part of his lungs and order a change of lifestyle.

1898 – Chekhov’s father dies and he buys a villa in Alushta near Yalta and moves there with his sisters and mother. He plants trees there and keeps dogs and tame cranes. He entertains Tolstoy there, and with great difficulty writes Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard for the Art Theatre which each take him over a year to write.

1901- 25 May Chekhov marries Olga Knipper an actress a former protegée and sometime lover of Nemirovich-Danchenko whom he had first met at rehearsals for The Seagull. They share a peculiar marital arrangement whereby she stays in Moscow to persue her acting career and he largely in his villa in Yalta. Of marriage he wrote, “give me a wife who, like the moon, won't appear in my sky every day.”

1904 – Chekhov dies finally from tuberculosis on holiday with his wife Olga in Germany. He is 44 years old. She wrote of the event:

“Anton sat up unusually straight and said loudly and clearly (although he knew almost no German): Ich sterbe. The doctor calmed him, took a syringe, gave him an injection of camphor, and ordered champagne. Anton took a full glass, examined it, smiled at me and said: "It's a long time since I drank champagne." He drained it, lay quietly on his left side, and I just had time to run to him and lean across the bed and call to him, but he had stopped breathing and was sleeping peacefully as a child...” www.wikipedia.com