Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov [ˈtʃʲɛxəf] (Russian Антон Павлович Чехов ( pronunciation^{? /i}), whis. transliteration Anton Pavlovič Čechov; * 17 ^Jul / 29 Jan 1860greg^. in Taganrog, Russia; † 2 ^Jul / 15 July 1904greg^. in Badenweiler, German Empire) was a Russian novelist, novellist and playwright. He came from a petty-bourgeois southern Russian family and was a doctor by profession, but practiced medicine almost exclusively on an honorary basis. At the same time, he wrote and published a total of over 600 literary works between 1880 and 1903. Chekhov is best known internationally as a playwright through his plays such as Three Sisters, The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard. With his typical, value-neutral and reserved way of depicting aspects of life and the way of thinking of people in the Russian provinces, Chekhov is considered one of the most important authors of Russian literature.

Anton Chekhov (c. 1903)

Museums

Chekhov House in Taganrog
Chekhov Museum Taganrog
Chekhov's store in Taganrog
Chekhov Museum Melikhovo
Chekhov Museum Yalta
Chekhov Museum Gursuf
Chekhov Museum Sumy

Adaptations

Filming

1926: Superfluous People - Director: Alexander Rasumny - Based on eleven novellas
1939: Čelovek v futljare - Director: Isidor Annenski - Based on the story The Man in the Case
1944: The Wedding (Swadba) - Director: Isidor Annenski
1944: Summer storm - Director: Douglas Sirk
1954: Heart Without Love (Anna na scheje) - Director: Isidor Annenski - Based on the story Anna am Halse
1954: The Swedish Match (Schwedskaja spitschka) - Director: Konstantin Judin
1955: The Cricket (Poprygunja) - director: Samson Samsonow - based on the novella of the same name (also: Flattergeist, A Woman Who Loves Art)
1960: The Lady with the Little Dog (Dama s sobatschkoi) - Director: Iossif Cheifiz
1961: The Steppe (La steppa) - Director: Alberto Lattuada
1962: Double Bass (Le contrebasse) - Director: Maurice Fasquel
1963: The Three Faces of Fear (I tre volti della paura) - directed by Mario Bava - the third episode is based on a novella by Chekhov.
1966: Little Soul (Duschetschka) - Director: Sergei Kolossow
1966: In the City of S. (W gorode S.) - Director: Iossif Cheifiz
1968: The Seagull - Director: Sidney Lumet
1968: Tragedy on the Hunt - Director Gerhard Klingenberg
1969: The Chief Witness (Glawny swidetel) - Director: Aida Mansareva
1970: The Seagull (Tchaika) - Director: Juli Karassik
1970: Uncle Vanya (Djadja Vanya) - Director: Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky
1973: These different, different faces (Eti rasnyje, rasnyje, rasnyje liza) - Director: Juri Saakow - Based on various stories
1973: A Bad, Good Man (Plochoi choroshi tschelowek) - Director: Iossif Cheifiz - Based on the story The Duel
1974: Romance with a Double Bass - Director: Robert Young - Original: Story Romance with a Double Bass
1975: Kashtanka - Director: Roman Balajan
1977: Unfinished score for a mechanical piano (Neokontschennaja pjessa dlja mechanitscheskowo pianino) - director: Nikita Michalkow - original: stage play Platonow
1977: Funny People (Smeschnyje ljudi) - Director: Michail Schweizer
1978: The Steppe (Step) - Director: Sergei Bondarchuk
1978: The Drama of the Hunt (Drama a vadászaton) - Director: Károly Esztergályos
1978: My gentle, tender animal (Moi laskowy i neschny swer) - Director: Emil Loteanu - Original: Story Drama on the Hunt
1979: The beneficiary - Director: Carlo Gebler
1980: Tales of an Unknown Man (Rasskas neiswestnowo tscheloweka) - Director: Vytautas Žalakevičius
1982: Swan Song - Director: Ulrich Engelmann (studio recording of three one-act plays)
1983: Three Sisters - Director: Thomas Langhoff
1984: The Willow Tree - Director: Sohrab Shahid Saless
1984: The Bear - Director: Don Askarian
1987: Black Eyes (Ochi chornye) - Director: Nikita Mikhalkov - based on the story The Lady with the Little Dog
1987: The Black Monk (Chorny monach) - Director: Ivan Dykhovichny
1988: Fear and Love (Paura e amore) - Director: Margarethe von Trotta - based on the drama Three Sisters
1990: Ariadne - ARD/RAI - based on a short story - directed by Jochen Richter - with Barbara Wussow, Albert Fortell, Nikolaus Paryla
1992: Swan Song, based on Swan Song - directed by Kenneth Branagh
1994: Vanya - 42nd Street (Vanya 42d street) - Director: Louis Malle - Based on the stage play Uncle Vanja. Scenes from country life
1994: A love in Australia (Country life) - Director: Michael Blakemore - Based on the stage play Uncle Vanja. Scenes from country life
1995: August (August) - Director: Anthony Hopkins - Based on the stage play Uncle Vanja. Scenes from Country Life
2003: The little Lili (La petite Lili) - Director: Claude Miller - Based on the stage play The Seagull
2005: The Sisters - Director: Arthur Allan Seidelman - Based on the stage play Three Sisters
2007: Afternoon - Director: Angela Schanelec - Based on the stage play The Seagull
2009: The Duel - Director: Dover Koshashvili - Based on the story The Duel
2014: Winter Sleep - Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Radio plays

1956: The Tragedy of the Hunt - Adaptation: Josef Martin Bauer - Starring: René Deltgen, Philipp Gehly, Hanns Ernst Jäger, Hannes Messemer, Kaspar Brüninghaus, Rosel Schäfer, Bernd M. Bausch, Herbert Hennies, Karl Brückel a. o. - Director: Eduard Hermann (WDR) Length: 82′50 minutes
1959: Onkel Wanja - Adaptation: Erika Kähler - Starring: Wolfgang Heinz, Erika Pelikowsky, Steffi Freund, Amy Frank, Emil Stöhr, Karl Paryla, Mathilde Danegger and Dieter Perlwitz - Director: Herwart Grosse (Rundfunk der DDR) Length: 83′38 minutes
1972: A Bad Thing (Russian: Недоброе дело / The Misstep) - adapted and directed by Joachim Staritz - starring: Walter Lendrich, Hans-Edgar Stecher, Gerhard Rachold a. o. (Rundfunk der DDR) Length: approx. 65 minutes
1978: Das schwedische Zündholz - Adaptation: Carl Dietrich Carls - Participants: Walter Jokisch, Rüdiger Lichti, Hans Helmut Dickow, Manfred Heidmann, Heinz Schacht, Alwin Joachim Meyer, Brigitte Drummer, Elisabeth Endriss and Siegfried Wischnewski - Director: Edward Rothe (WDR) Length: 60 minutes
2004: My heart - my dog, a love in letters. Editing: Andrea Clemen. Starring: Martina Gedeck, Christian Redl, Regieé Jannings. Length: 65 minutes, MDR

Audio books

Three Sisters Read by Ernst Jacobi, Julia Costa, Cordula Trantow and many others. Der Hörverlag, Munich 2003. 2 CDs (running time 130 min.). ISBN 3-89584-706-2
Der Kirschgarten Read by Marianne Hoppe, Cordula Trantow, Luitgard Im, Günter Mack, Ernst Jacobi and many others. Der Hörverlag, Munich 2003. 2 CDs (running time 95 min.). ISBN 3-89584-707-0
Die Dame mit dem Hündchen Read by Matthias Haase, Argon Verlag, Berlin 2004. 1 CD (running time 48 min.). ISBN 3-87024-693-6
Kaschtanka und andere Kindergeschichten Read by Peter Urban, Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich 2006. 1 CD (running time 85 min.). ISBN 978-3-257-80023-4
Verocka. Stories of love. Read by Otto Sander, Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich 2006. 4 CDs (running time 282 min.). ISBN 978-3-257-80902-2
An Unnecessary Victory. Early novellas and a short novel. Read by Frank Arnold, Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich 2008. 7 CDs (running time 425 min.). ISBN 978-3-257-80210-8
Narrative of a stranger Read by Rolf Boysen, Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich 2009. 4 CDs (running time 239 min.). ISBN 978-3-257-80271-9
Flattergeist, short story, read unabridged by Ernst Schröder, Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 2009. 1 CD (running time 60 min.)
Die Dame mit dem Hündchen, Narrative, Unabridged read by Otto Sander, Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 2009, 1 CD (running time 50 min.)
Ein Duell, from the Russian by Peter Urban, read by Ulrich Matthes, Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 2010, 4 CDs (running time: 302 min.)

Adaptation for musical theatre

Skripka Rotshilda (Engl. Rothschild's Violin). Opera fragment by Weniamin Fleischmann, completed and orchestrated by his teacher Dmitri Shostakovich. Completed in 1944. 1960 concert premiere in Moscow, 1968 staged premiere in Leningrad, both conducted by Maxim Shostakovich.
Una domanda di matrimonio (Engl. The marriage proposal). Opera in one act. Libretto: Claudio Fino and Saverio Vertone. Music: Luciano Chailly. Premiere 22 May 1957 in Milan
The Bear. Extravaganza in One Act. Libretto: Paul Dehn. Music: William Walton. First performance 3 June 1967 in Aldeburgh
The Cherry Orchard. Opera in four acts. Libretto and music: Rudolf Kelterborn. Premiere 4 December 1984 in Zurich
Tri sestri (Engl. Three sisters). Opera in three sequences. Libretto: Claus H. Henneberg and Péter Eötvös. Music: Péter Eötvös. Premiere 13 March 1998 in Lyon
Tatjana. Dramma lirico in one act. Libretto and music: Azio Corghi. Premiere 20 October 2000 in Milan
Senya. Opera. Libretto and music: Azio Corghi. Premiere 7 March 2003 in Münster
Impure tragedies and leprous dramatists. Satirical chamber opera in five scenes. Libretto and music: Timo Jouko Herrmann. Premiere 24 June 2004 in Heidelberg
The novel with the double bass. Lyrical Scenes [Chamber Opera]. Libretto: Michael Leinert. Music: Jürg Baur. Premiere 25 November 2005 in Düsseldorf
Swan Song. Musical-dramatic etude in one act. Libretto: André Meyer. Music: Timo Jouko Herrmann. Premiere 25 June 2006 in Mannheim