Fyodor Adamovich Korsh

Reading notes

• To F. O. Shekhtel, 12–16 September 1886. Moscow. §3 я был позван к Коршу по делу

  Fyodor Korsh, a lawyer turned theatrical entrepreneur, founded Moscow's first successful private (non-Imperial) playhouse, the Korsh Theater, in 1882; being "summoned" to see him on business reflects Chekhov's ongoing, informal ties to Moscow's theater world in the years just before he began writing plays himself.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 6–7 October 1887. Moscow. §7 Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur who ran the Korsh Theater, where Chekhov expects to stage the play if Korsh's fee is not too stingy.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 10–12 October 1887. Moscow. §9 Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur whose private playhouse would premiere "Ivanov"; Chekhov reports writing the play after a conversation with him and describes Korsh's reaction to reading it.

• To V. G. Korolenko, 17 October 1887. Moscow. §7 Korsh's

  Fyodor Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur who ran the Korsh Theater, where Chekhov expects "Ivanov" to be staged.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 24 October 1887. Moscow. §9 Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh, proprietor of the Korsh Theater in Moscow, where the play was expected to open.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 29 October 1887. Moscow. §8 Korsh (the swindler!)

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the theater's founder and manager, with whom Chekhov has just signed the production contract; "swindler" is affectionate mock-abuse typical of the brothers' register, not a serious accusation.

• To N. A. Leikin, 4 November 1887. Moscow. §5 Korsh

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, proprietor of the private Moscow theater staging Ivanov; Chekhov's fifth complaint (point 3, folded here) is that Korsh cares about a full house, not the play's or actors' success.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 20 November 1887. Moscow. §3 Korsh promised me ten rehearsals

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, proprietor of the private Moscow theater staging \textit{Ivanov}; his troupe received only four rehearsals before opening, two of which degenerated into shouting matches among the cast rather than real run-throughs.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 20 November 1887. Moscow. §8 at Korsh's there had never been an occasion

  Chekhov notes, half proudly, that no author at Korsh's theater had previously been called back onto the stage after only the second act -- a mark of the play's real (if chaotic) impact on the house.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 18 April 1888. Moscow. §5 Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur; Chekhov reports having no news of his theater's plans.

• To V. N. Davydov, 23 April 1888. Moscow. §6 Korsh

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur whose private playhouse -- the Korsh Theater -- had employed Davydov as its leading comic actor; Chekhov closes with word that Korsh is said to be gravely ill.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 2 October 1888. Moscow. §3 his uncle Korsh

  Fyodor Korsh's claim to have known Suvorin since being "brought up by his uncle Korsh" refers to an older relative also surnamed Korsh, not otherwise identified in the source; kept distinct from Fyodor Korsh himself (the theater manager, the letter's main comic subject throughout \S3-\S17 and again in \S19, \S24-\S25) and, as the headnote stresses, from Suvorin, the letter's addressee -- the two men must never be conflated.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 14 October 1888. Moscow. §8 Korsh is stingy in the extreme

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur and proprietor of Korsh's Theater, already established in this corpus (see's headnote and cross-references) in connection with stagings of Chekhov's and others' work.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 2 November 1888. Moscow. §6 I had a talk about it with Korsh; I'll still be talking with Solovtsov too

  Fyodor Korsh, the theater manager who owns and runs Korsh's Moscow playhouse, is the person Chekhov has already spoken to about staging "The Theatrical Sparrow"; Solovtsov, named in the same sentence, is the actor/director at that same theater whom Chekhov still means to approach separately -- the two hold different roles at the same house and should not be conflated.

• To N. A. Leikin, 5 November 1888. Moscow. §4 Korsh pays 6 rubles per act

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the Moscow theatre manager whose company (the Korsh Theater) would go on to stage Leikin's vaudeville if it suited an actor; Chekhov cites Korsh's standard per-act rate as practical guidance.

• To N. A. Leikin, 5 November 1888. Moscow. §7 Korsh's

  Again Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, at whose theatre Chekhov's own one-act farce "The Bear" ("Медведь") was then running with great success.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 7 November 1888. Moscow. §6 The public, stupid as it may be, is nevertheless on the whole more intelligent, more sincere, and more good-natured than Korsh, the actors, and the playwrights

  Fyodor Korsh, the Moscow theater manager already established in this corpus; here the target of a pointed jab about theatrical self-regard, continuous with \S9's report on the run of "The Bear" at his theater.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 20 December 1888. Moscow. §3 Korsh's

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, founder of Moscow's leading private playhouse; Chekhov called on him (or his theatre) to learn the status of the production Tikhonov had asked about.

• To N. A. Leikin, 22 December 1888. Moscow. §8 stuck fast at Korsh's

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the Moscow theatre manager whose company would stage Leikin's play once a suitable benefit performer took it up.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 February 1889. Moscow. §6 given to Korsh

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the Moscow theatre manager; Chekhov's own copy of Leikin's play, originally a gift from Leikin, has since been passed along to Korsh, confirming the play's stalled status at his theatre reported in.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 21–22 March 1889. Moscow. §8 soon becomes Fyodor Adamovich Korsh

  A joking double compliment: Chekhov wishes Shcheglov's theatrical ambitions as much success as Korsh's own private theater has had -- i.e., that Shcheglov himself become a Korsh-caliber impresario -- while also glancing at Korsh's real name, which Shcheglov's own venture would have to live up to.

• To N. N. Obolonsky, 29 March 1889. Moscow. §4 recall our conversation over supper at Korsh's

  "Korsh" here is almost certainly Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the theatrical entrepreneur who founded Moscow's Korsh Theater and was a member of Chekhov's theatrical circle, already established in this corpus (e.g.); the "supper at Korsh's" is consistent with that circle, though not independently re-verified for this specific occasion.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 13 September 1889. Moscow. §3 Korsh

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, founder and manager of the private Korsh Theater in Moscow, Chekhov's source of news about Tikhonov's plays.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 18 September 1889. Moscow. §7 Korsh is quarreling with Abramova

  Fyodor Korsh, theater manager, asserting exclusive performance rights to "The Bear" against the rival claim from Abramova's troupe.

• To A. S. Kiselev, 8 December 1891. Moscow. §5 Korsh

  Fyodor Adamovich Korsh, the Moscow theatrical entrepreneur who ran the city's leading private playhouse; Chekhov names him as the first of two real contacts who could, in the unlikely event of censorship approval, get the play staged.