Korsh Theater

Reading notes

• Poems and Dubia (school-age and disputed juvenilia) §1308 the Korsh theater

  Davydov left the state-run imperial Petersburg stage for Korsh's private Moscow theater; the piece frames this move as a quasi-political "emigration," driven by an artist's independence rather than disloyalty.

• To F. O. Shekhtel, 12–16 September 1886. Moscow. §5 Будьте сегодня у Корша

  The Korsh Theater, Moscow's leading private playhouse of the period, founded in 1882 by Fyodor Korsh as an alternative to the state-run Imperial theaters; it built its reputation partly on strong repertory casts like the one Chekhov praises here.

• To M. V. Kiseleva, 21 September 1886. Moscow. §6 I am writing a play for Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow theater was a major commercial stage that regularly commissioned new work from popular writers; a Korsh commission was a mark of Chekhov's rising standing, though the piece mentioned here (probably an early stage of what became "Ivanov") caused him considerable difficulty.

• To A. N. Kanayev, 26 March 1883. Moscow. §6 Korsh's

  The private Moscow theatre founded by Fyodor Korsh, the scene of the walkout scandal Chekhov describes here, in which several leading actors broke away over a pay dispute.

• To M. V. Kiseleva, 13 September 1887. Moscow. §5 Korsh's theatre

  Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow playhouse, a leading venue of the day, where Korsh repeatedly pressed Chekhov to write him a play -- a request Chekhov would in fact fulfill only years later, with Ivanov produced elsewhere.

• To G. M. Chekhov, 17 October 1887. Moscow. §25 Korsh's theatre

  "Ivanov," the play mentioned self-referentially in section 4, would in fact premiere at Korsh's theatre the following month, on 19 November 1887.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 21 October 1887. Moscow. §4 Korsh's

  Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow playhouse, where Ivanov was to premiere as a benefit performance.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 27 October 1887. Moscow. §5 The agreement with Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow theater, where "Ivanov" premiered on 19 November 1887.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 29 October 1887. Moscow. §6 Korsh's

  The Korsh Theater, Moscow's leading private playhouse, where "Ivanov" was then in preparation; Davydov predicts the production will fail there for lack of a cast equal to the play's five demanding roles.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 14 September 1888. Moscow. §10 Korsh's theater

  Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow playhouse, where Chekhov proposes to ask around about news of "The Summer Husband." Korsh (the theater manager, section 10) is a real historical figure entirely distinct from Suvorin (Chekhov's Petersburg publisher, mentioned only in the closing news item in section 11 about a house he is building in Feodosia) -- the two should not be conflated.

• To V. N. Davydov, 4 January 1889. Moscow. §9 at Korsh's things are rolling downhill with the speed of an express train

  "Korsh's" refers to the Korsh Theatre in Moscow (institution:korsh-theatre), founded by Fyodor Adamovich Korsh and the original 1887 venue for "Ivanov"; Chekhov's remark reflects the theatre's contemporary financial and artistic difficulties, a recurring complaint in his letters of this period.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 7 March 1889. Moscow. §7 the Korsh company

  The Korsh Theater, Moscow's leading private playhouse, founded by Fyodor Korsh in 1882 and previously established in this corpus as the venue of the 1887 premiere of Chekhov's "Ivanov."

• To I. L. Leontyev, 16 March 1889. Moscow. §4 In Moscow there is the "Korsh Theater."

  The private Moscow theater founded by Fyodor Korsh, already established in this corpus (e.g. headnote) as the venue of the original 1887 Moscow premiere of "Ivanov".

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 8 May 1889. Sumy. §11 Korsh's

  Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow theater, named here as the fallback staging venue if the play cannot be placed at an imperial (state) theater.

• To N. N. Obolonsky, 4 June 1889. Sumy. §5 for Korsh

  "For Korsh" (для Корша) refers to Fyodor Korsh's private Moscow theater (institution:korsh-theatre), for which Chekhov here considers writing a new three-act play if he travels to Kislovodsk. This is explicitly contrasted in the same section with the stalled, unfinished play Chekhov describes as written "for the treasury" (source: "для казны"), meaning intended for the state-run Imperial Theaters -- a categorically different, government-subsidized venue from Korsh's privately run house. The "для казны" play, not Korsh's, is the one already promised for Svobodin's and Lensky's benefit performances and already the subject of newspaper chatter; no separate entity is needed for "the Imperial Theaters" beyond this note distinguishing the two commissions.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 18 September 1889. Moscow. §4 Korsh's troupe

  F. A. Korsh's private Moscow theater, whose company had recently added new members; Chekhov warns Shcheglov against casting his play before getting to know them.