To V. N. Davydov, 23 April 1888. Moscow.
В. Н. ДАВЫДОВУ, 23 апреля 1888 г. Москва.
Headnote
1 Written from Moscow on 23 April 1888 (Easter Sunday) to the actor Vladimir Nikolaevich Davydov, a leading comic performer at Korsh’s Moscow theatre who had just accepted a post at the Imperial theatre in Petersburg.
2 Chekhov offers Easter greetings and congratulates Davydov on the move, framing it as Petersburg’s gain and Moscow’s loss – and his own loss of a valued acquaintance – while genuinely wishing him well: closer to family, and among a public Chekhov calls "drier" but sharper and more able to recognize Davydov’s talent. He doubts they will meet often again. He reports his own news (an estate rented for the summer at the Lintvaryovs’ in Sumy, Kharkov province), asks Davydov to pass on regards to a "Pavel Pavlovich" and to return the manuscript of "Calchas" – Chekhov’s one-act play written with Davydov’s talents in mind, later known as "Swan Song" – if it can be found, and closes with news that the Moscow theatre manager Fyodor Korsh is said to be gravely ill.