To V. A. Tikhonov, 3 March 1890. Moscow.
В. А. ТИХОНОВУ, 3 марта 1890 г. Москва.
Headnote
1 Letter to Vladimir Alekseyevich Tikhonov, 3 March 1890, Moscow.
2 Dating and addressee context: Written from Moscow on 3 March 1890, a month before Chekhov’s departure for Sakhalin Island (he left Moscow on 21 April 1890). The addressee is the playwright and journalist Vladimir Alekseyevich Tikhonov (1857–1914), a fellow member of the theatrical literary-committee circle Chekhov refers to here as "the Commission" – almost certainly the reading committee of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, on which both men served, screening plays for production/prize consideration. Chekhov addresses him teasingly as "the Russian Sardou," after the prolific French boulevard playwright Victorien Sardou (1831–1908), a joke on Tikhonov’s own facility as a dramatist.
3 Chekhov urges Tikhonov to come to Moscow during Holy Week (Страстная неделя, the week before Easter) for two reasons: to attend the Commission’s session, and so Chekhov can apologize in person for having failed to visit him during a recent trip to Petersburg. He blames the omission entirely on his all-consuming preoccupation with preparing for the Sakhalin journey, which has taken over his time and his will. He promises they’ll talk when they meet, wishes Tikhonov well, and closes with a wry proverb-like line about circumstances sometimes commanding a man rather than the reverse. He then adds, almost as a postscript within the body, that he is leaving Russia in early April and will be travelling until December – i.e., the entire Sakhalin expedition and return via Ceylon/Suez, not yet named as such here. The letter closes with the standard "Keep well" / "Yours, A. Chekhov," followed by a brisk run of solicitous questions about Tikhonov’s stomach, nerves, and current plays – typical Chekhov epistolary shorthand for a friend he also treated medically/informally worried about.