Alexander Lensky

Reading notes

• The Critic §45 Lensky and Ivanov-Kozelsky

  Alexander Lensky (Maly Theatre, later an influential director and teacher) and Mitrofan Ivanov-Kozelsky (famed above all for his passionate touring performances as Hamlet) were both real, well-regarded actors of the period. Dismissing their talent as merely "put on" continues the noble father's pattern of inverting genuine acclaim into insult.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 23 February 1888. Moscow. §7 Ленского -- Отелло

  Alexander Lensky, the Maly Theatre actor, in the title role of Shakespeare's "Othello"; Chekhov judges the production competent but lifeless, missing the essential note of jealousy.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 5–6 October 1888. Moscow. §8 Shcheglov, who has seen Salvini six times, says that Lensky's Othello is good

  Alexander Lensky, the Maly Theatre actor, already established in this corpus; Shcheglov's repeated viewings of Tommaso Salvini's celebrated touring Othello are cited as lending weight to his judgment that Lensky's own Othello is good.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 October 1888. Moscow. §9 другой артисту Ленскому

  The actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre (matching the existing corpus entity) -- here named as a subscriber to the Garshin memorial collection, and praised two sections later for his performance in Sumbatov's "Chains."

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 17 October 1888. Moscow. §3 Lensky wants, come what may, to perform it on the Maly Stage

  The actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, matching the established corpus entity (cf. letter 497, where he subscribes to the Garshin memorial collection and is praised for his acting in Sumbatov's "Chains"). "The Maly Stage" refers to the Maly Theatre's smaller performance space, not a separate venue. NOTE: this Lensky is a real, contemporary actor, entirely distinct from "Georges" named two sections later at loc 5 -- the two names refer to different people and must not be conflated despite appearing close together in the same short letter.

• To A. P. Lensky, 26 October 1888. Moscow. §3 Dear Alexander Pavlovich, I called on you today and left "Kalkhas"

  The actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, matching the established corpus entity (cf. letters 497 and 3-506, where he is discussed only in the third person). This letter is the first in the corpus addressed directly to Lensky himself, following up on the third-person negotiations of those two earlier letters.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 3 November 1888. Moscow. §3 Lensky is going to read my stories

  PROBABLE IDENTIFICATION, DISAMBIGUATION -- likely Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, already established in this corpus. Not to be confused with the fictional character "Lensky" from Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin"; nothing in this letter references the Pushkin character, so no link to a fictional entity is made here.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 16 November 1888. Moscow. §14 Lensky (A. P.)

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, the actor, already a recurring figure in this correspondence (e.g. §24).

• To Ye. M. Lintvareva, 23 November 1888. Moscow. §15 I want to learn from Lensky how to read and speak

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, already a recurring figure in this correspondence (e.g.); here Chekhov wishes to learn diction and delivery from him, in a self-deprecating aside about his own tongue-tied ("косноязычен") manner of speech.

• To A. P. Lensky, 8 December 1888. Petersburg. §3 Dear Alexander Pavlovich!

  The actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, matching the established corpus entity. This is the SECOND letter in the corpus addressed directly to Lensky, following letter 3-513 (26 October 1888, Moscow), six weeks earlier.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 17 December 1888. Moscow. §6 Adashev to Lensky.

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, the Maly Theatre actor already established in this corpus (first appearance in "The Critic"), reused here as the actor proposed for the fictional role of Adashev (new entity, a character in "Tatyana Repina"); this letter adds only this passing casting detail to his established identity, without first name or patronymic.

• To D. V. Grigorovich, 24 December 1888. Moscow. §8 Lensky is playing Adashev

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, cast as Adashev; extensively established elsewhere in this corpus. The source's "Адашева -- Ленский" is a compressed cast-list construction ("[the role of] Adashev -- Lensky"), rendered here as "Lensky is playing Adashev" for clarity.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 5 January 1889. Moscow. §7 Lensky

  The actor Alexander Lensky, already established in this corpus, the other of two personal recipients of a marked-up copy of "Tatyana Repina" alongside Nikulina.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 6 January 1889. Moscow. §8 today I sent Nikulina and Lensky each a copy from yesterday's consignment, asked them to check their roles against these copies

  Refers to the companion letter of the same date sent directly to Lensky, which accompanies exactly this consignment of corrected copies and explains that Lensky's role, Adashev, absorbed the bulk of the author's corrections -- the two letters describe the same act of sending from two sides of the exchange.

• To Ye. K. Sakharova, 13 January 1889. Moscow. §7 A. P. Lensky

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, actor at Moscow's Maly Theatre and later its director, already established in this corpus; Chekhov directs Sakharova's husband to him as an intermediary with the Society of Art and Literature.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 8 February 1889. Moscow. §7 Lensky told me

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, actor and director at the Maly Theatre, Chekhov's source here for the box-office report on "Tanya Repina."

• To L. N. Lenskaya, 15–16 February 1889. Moscow. §4 Alexander Pavlovich

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky (1847-1908), the Maly Theatre actor and Lidia Nikolaevna's husband, invited here to Chekhov's Lenten "sour cabbage" gathering on the condition he drink at least three glasses. Not to be confused with Chekhov's own elder brother, also named Alexander Pavlovich (Chekhov), who appears elsewhere in this corpus as a distinct addressee; the two men share the same given name and patronymic but are unrelated.

• To L. N. Lenskaya, 15–16 February 1889. Moscow. §6 Alexander Pavlovich

  Again Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, to whom Chekhov asks Lenskaya to convey his own heartfelt greetings -- distinct, as at \S4, from Chekhov's brother of the same name and patronymic.

• To L. N. Lenskaya, 15–16 February 1889. Moscow. §10 A. P.

  Abbreviated reference to Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, whom Chekhov jokes will not recognize the "legend" once reworked into his own story.

• To A. P. Lensky, 20 February 1889. Moscow. §2 Alexander Pavlovich

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, actor and later director/teacher at Moscow's Maly Theatre, already extensively established in this corpus (see e.g.); here the addressee, asked to receive the painter Sakharov and direct him to the Society of Art and Literature.

• To A. P. Lensky, 9 April 1889. Moscow. §3 Alexander Pavlovich

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky (1847-1908), the Maly Theatre actor and director, addressee of this letter; see the established Lensky correspondence thread (e.g.).

• To A. S. Suvorin, 22 April 1889. Moscow. §11 Lensky is going to Tula in a few days to play Adashev

  The actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, travelling to give a touring performance of the role of Adashev in Suvorin's play, here called "Tatyana Repina" -- the same actor-role pairing already confirmed in the nearby letter, where Lensky's playing of Adashev in the Moscow production is likewise noted.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 4 May 1889. Sumy. §16 Lensky is calling me to go with him on tour to Tiflis.

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, matching the established corpus entity (see \S6); his proposed Tiflis touring engagement here is a separate matter from the Sumy "Tatyana Repina"/"Ivanov" stagings mentioned earlier in this same letter (\S8-10), and should not be conflated with the uncertain local Sumy "Adashev" of \S8.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 6 May 1889. Sumy. §5 Lensky

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky of the Maly Theatre, offered here as a personal contact who could read and potentially help stage a Shcheglov play.

• To P. A. Sergeyenko, 25 June 1889. Sumy. §2 If Lensky's name is Alexander Pavlovich

  Chekhov is confirming, via telegram, whether the "Lensky" he has in mind is Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, the Maly Theatre actor and director -- the patronymic query functions as an identity check before he commits to traveling.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 18 September 1889. Moscow. §7 Lensky

  Alexander Lensky, leading actor at the Maly Theatre, whose failure to visit Chekhov is read here as a symptom of the Maly's pique over "Ivanov" playing at Korsh's.

• To A. P. Lensky, 27 September 1889. Moscow. §3 Hamlet and Othello of the Moscow stage,

  The opening of a mock-heroic couplet lampooning Alexander Pavlovich Lensky's range as an actor at the Maly Theatre: tragic grandeur onstage as Shakespeare's Hamlet and Othello.

• To F. A. Kumanin, 10 October 1889. Moscow. §3 Lensky

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky (1847-1908), leading actor and later director/teacher at the Maly Theatre; Chekhov discussed staging "Kalkhas"/"Swan Song" with him the previous season, with plans repeatedly postponed.

• To A. P. Lensky, 29 November 1891. Moscow. §3 Dear Alexander Pavlovich,

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, the celebrated Maly Theatre actor and director, with whom Chekhov corresponded on and off through the early 1890s over theatrical business and personal news; the addressee of this letter.

• To F. A. Chervinsky, 12 April 1890. Moscow. §4 Lensky or Yuzhin

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky and Alexander Ivanovich Sumbatov (stage name Yuzhin) were both leading actors at Moscow's Maly Theatre, the city's foremost dramatic stage. Chekhov's offer to "speak" with either man on Chervinsky's behalf before leaving trades on his own standing with the Maly's principal players -- the natural channel for a young playwright seeking the professional judgment ("the actors' opinion") of a script or role.

• To A. P. Lensky, 27 February 1891. Moscow. §3 Alexander Pavlovich

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky (1847-1908), actor and later director/teacher at Moscow's Maly Theatre, already well established in this corpus as an ongoing friendly correspondent (see, and the same-year); this is not a first letter to him, despite the recurring "А. П. ЛЕНСКОМУ" dateline heading shared by all of Chekhov's letters to him.

• To Ye. M. Shavrova, 6 March 1891. Moscow. §6 Lensky

  Alexander Pavlovich Lensky, a leading actor at Moscow's Maly Theatre; Chekhov proposes him, half in jest, as a real, living alternative to the idealized "waxen, godlike" actor-figure Shavrova has apparently written into one of her pieces.