The history of the creation of the play "The Cherry Orchard"
The Cherry Orchard is Chekhov's last play, completed on the threshold of the first Russian revolution, in the year of his early death.
For the first time about the idea of writing this play, A.P. Chekhov mentions in one of his letters in the spring of 1901. She was conceived by him as a comedy, "like a funny play, wherever the devil would walk like a yoke." In 1903, at the height of work on The Cherry Orchard, A.P. Chekhov wrote to friends: "The whole play is cheerful, frivolous." Her theme - "the estate goes under the hammer" - was not new to Chekhov, she was touched by him in the early drama "Fatherlessness" (1878-1881). The situation of the sale of the estate, the loss of the house interested and worried the writer throughout his entire career.
The play "The Cherry Orchard" reflected many of the life impressions of A.P. Chekhov. These are memories of the sale of their home in Taganrog, and acquaintance with the Kiselevs, the owners of the Babkino estate near Moscow, where the Chekhovs lived in the summer months of 1885-1887. A.S. Kiselev, who, after selling his estate for debts, entered the service as a member of the board of a bank in Kaluga, was in many ways the prototype of Gaev. In 1888 and 1889, Chekhov rested at the Lintvarev estate, near Sumy in the Kharkov province, where he saw many neglected and dying noble estates. The writer could observe the same picture in detail both in 1892-1898, living in his Melikhovo, and in the summer of 1902, when he was visiting the estate of K.S. Stanislavsky - Lyubimovka near Moscow. The ruined nobility, thoughtlessly living out their fortunes, was gradually forced out of the estates by the increasingly stronger “third estate”. All these years in the mind of the writer there was a process of maturation of the idea of the play, which would reflect many details of the life of the inhabitants of the old noble nests.
Work on the play "The Cherry Orchard" required A.P. Chekhov great effort. “I write four lines a day, and those with unbearable torment,” he told friends. However, overcoming illness, domestic disorder, Chekhov wrote a "peppy play."
The value of Chekhov's letters to directors and actors, in which he comments on individual scenes of The Cherry Orchard, gives the characteristics of his characters, especially emphasizing the comedic specificity of his creation, is invaluable. But the founders of the Art Theater K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, highly appreciating the play, perceived it as a drama. The troupe's reading of the play was a "brilliant success". According to Stanislavsky, she was received "with unanimous enthusiasm." “I cried like a woman,” he wrote to Chekhov, “I wanted to, but I could not restrain myself. I hear you say: "Excuse me, but this is a farce." No, for the common man this is a tragedy. I feel a special tenderness and love for this play.
It was obvious that the play required a special theatrical language, new intonations, and both its creator and the actors clearly understood this. M.P. Lilina (the first performer of the role of Anya) wrote to Chekhov on November 11, 1903: “... It seemed to me that The Cherry Orchard was not a play, but a piece of music, a symphony. And this play must be played especially truthfully, but without real rudeness. Chekhov noble dream loss
The director's interpretation of The Cherry Orchard did not satisfy Chekhov in everything. “This is a tragedy, no matter what outcome to a better life you open in the last act,” Stanislavsky wrote to Chekhov, asserting his logic of the play’s movement to a tragic finale, which meant, in essence, the end of the former life, the loss of the house and the disappearance of the garden. In his vision, the performance was deprived of comedic intonations, which endlessly resented Chekhov. In his opinion, Stanislavsky (who played the role of Gaev) dragged out the action in the fourth act. “How awful! Chekhov wrote to his wife. - An act that should last 12 minutes maximum, you have 40 minutes. Stanislavsky ruined my play.
In turn, Stanislavsky complained in December 1903: "The Cherry Orchard" "does not bloom yet. Just appeared, it was, flowers, the author arrived and confused us all. The flowers have fallen off, and now only new buds are appearing.
And yet, despite the inevitable rehearsal difficulties, the performance was prepared for release. The premiere took place on Chekhov's birthday - January 17, 1904. For the first time, the Art Theater honored its beloved writer and author of plays of many productions of the group, timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Chekhov's literary activity. The appearance of the hero of the day on the proscenium after the third act caused a thunder of applause. All artistic and literary Moscow gathered in the hall. Among the spectators were A. Bely, V. Bryusov,
M. Gorky, S. Rachmaninov, F. Chaliapin. Chekhov's last play - his poetic testament - began its independent life.
The interest of the Russian public in the play was enormous. The bright spirit of Chekhov's work captivated the public. Performances of The Cherry Orchard were successfully staged in many theaters across the country. Nevertheless, the writer was not destined to see a performance that would meet his creative ideas. As Stanislavsky later admitted, Chekhov overtook the development of the theater. But, he wrote, "the chapter on Chekhov is not yet finished." And today we are convinced of this.
A.P. Chekhov first mentioned the idea of writing the play "The Cherry Orchard" in one of his letters dated in the spring of 1901. At first, it was conceived by him "as a funny play, wherever the devil would walk like a yoke." In 1903, when work on The Cherry Orchard continued, A.P. Chekhov wrote to his friends: "The whole play is cheerful, frivolous." The theme of the play "the estate goes under the hammer" was by no means new to the writer. Previously, she was touched by him in the drama "Fatherlessness" (1878-1881). Throughout his career, Chekhov was interested and worried about the psychological tragedy of the situation of the sale of the estate and the loss of the house. Therefore, the play "The Cherry Orchard" reflected many of the writer's life experiences associated with the sale of his father's house in Taganrog, and acquaintance with the Kiselevs, who owned the Babkino estate near Moscow, where the Chekhov family visited in the summer of 1885-1887. In many ways, the image of Gaev was written off from A.S. Kiselev, who became a member of the board of the bank in Kaluga after the forced sale of the estate for debts. In 1888 and 1889, Chekhov rested at the Lintvarev estate, near Sumy, Kharkov province. There he saw with his own eyes the neglected and dying noble estates. Chekhov could observe the same picture in detail in 1892-1898, living in his estate Melikhovo, and also in the summer of 1902, when he lived in Lyubimovka - the estate of K. S. Stanislavsky. The growing strength of the "third estate", which was notable for its tough business acumen, gradually ousted from the "noble nests" their ruined masters, who thoughtlessly lived out their fortunes. From all this, Chekhov drew the idea for the play, which later reflected many details of the life of the inhabitants of the dying noble estates.
Work on the play "The Cherry Orchard" required extraordinary efforts from the author. So, he writes to friends: "I write four lines a day, and those with unbearable torment." Chekhov, constantly struggling with bouts of illness and everyday troubles, writes a "peppy play".
On October 5, 1903, the famous Russian writer N.K. Garin-Mikhailovsky wrote in a letter to one of his correspondents: “I met and fell in love with Chekhov. He is bad. , caress, peace, and the sea, mountains doze in it, and this moment seems eternal with a wonderful pattern.
Chekhov also sends several letters to directors and actors, where he comments in detail on some scenes of The Cherry Orchard, gives the characteristics of his characters, with particular emphasis on the comedic features of the play. But K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, the founders of the Art Theater, perceived it as a drama. According to Stanislavsky, the reading of the play by the troupe was greeted with "unanimous enthusiasm." He writes to Chekhov: "I cried like a woman, I wanted to, but I could not restrain myself. I hear you say: "Excuse me, but this is a farce." No, for a simple person this is a tragedy ... I feel special for this play tenderness and love."
The staging of the play required a special theatrical language, new intonations. This was well understood by both its creator and the actors. M.P. Lilina (the first performer of the role of Anya) wrote to A.P. Chekhov on November 11, 1903: "... It seemed to me that The Cherry Orchard is not a play, but a piece of music, a symphony. And this play must be played especially truthfully but without any real roughness."
However, the director's interpretation of The Cherry Orchard did not satisfy Chekhov. “This is a tragedy, no matter what outcome to a better life you discover in the last act,” Stanislavsky writes to the author, affirming his vision and the logic of the play’s movement to a dramatic finale, which meant the end of the former life, the loss of the house and the death of the garden. Chekhov was extremely indignant that the performance was deprived of comedic intonations. He believed that Stanislavsky, who played the role of Gaev, dragged out the action in the fourth act too much. Chekhov confesses to his wife: "How terrible it is! The act, which should last 12 minutes maximum, you have 40 minutes. Stanislavsky ruined my play."
In December 1903, Stanislavsky complained: "The Cherry Orchard" "does not bloom yet. Flowers had just appeared, the author arrived and confused us all. The flowers have fallen, and now only new buds are appearing."
A.P. Chekhov wrote "The Cherry Orchard" as a play about home, about life, about the motherland, about love, about losses, about the rapidly escaping time. However, at the beginning of the 20th century this did not seem far beyond dispute. Each new play by Chekhov caused a variety of assessments. The comedy "The Cherry Orchard" was no exception, where the nature of the conflict, the characters, the poetics of Chekhov's dramaturgy were new and unexpected.
For example, A. M. Gorky described Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" as a rehash of old motifs: "I listened to Chekhov's play - in reading it does not give the impression of a big thing. New - not a word. Everything - moods, ideas - if you can talk about them - faces - all this was already in his plays. Of course - beautifully and - of course - from the stage it will blow on the audience with green melancholy. But I don’t know what the melancholy is about.
Despite constant disagreements, the premiere of "The Cherry Orchard" nevertheless took place on January 17, 1904 - on the birthday of A.P. Chekhov. The Art Theater timed it to the 25th anniversary of the literary activity of A.P. Chekhov. The entire artistic and literary elite of Moscow gathered in the hall, and among the spectators were A. Bely, V. Ya. Bryusov, A. M. Gorky, S. V. Rakhmaninov, F. I. Chaliapin. The appearance on the stage after the third act of the author was met with long applause. The last play by A.P. Chekhov, which became his creative testament, began its independent life.
The demanding Russian public greeted the play with great enthusiasm, whose bright spirit could not help captivating the viewer. Performances of "The Cherry Orchard" were successfully staged in many theaters in Russia. But, nevertheless, Chekhov never saw a performance that fully corresponded to his creative ideas. "The chapter on Chekhov is not over yet," Stanislavsky wrote, recognizing that A.P. Chekhov had far outstripped the development of the theatre.
Contrary to critical forecasts, The Cherry Orchard has become an unfading classic of the national theater. The artistic discoveries of the author in dramaturgy, his original vision of the contradictory aspects of life are unusually clearly manifested in this thoughtful work.
Chekhov's Cherry Orchard.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov! How much is connected with this name in the soul of a Russian person. He was endowed with amazing talent and hard work. Namely, these qualities put him on a par with the best representatives of Russian literature.
He was always attracted by the high art of simplicity and brevity, and at the same time, he strove in his works to enhance the emotional and semantic expressiveness of the narrative.
The work of A.P. Chekhov is permeated with a constant struggle with the unbearable longing of being. One of the few whose eyes were turned not just to the future - he lived this future. With his pen, forcing us, readers, to think about problems that are not momentary, but much more important and significant.
AT 1904
In 1998, the premiere of A.P. Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard was triumphant on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. After previous, mixed critical reviews of Chekhov's productions, The Cherry Orchard was accepted immediately and unconditionally. Moreover, the play gave impetus to the birth of a "new theater" gravitating towards symbolism and the grotesque.
The Cherry Orchard became an epilogue, a requiem for an entire era. A vivid parody and a desperate comedy with a finale that gives us some hope for the future, this is perhaps the main, innovative phenomenon of this play.
Chekhov, placing the accents quite accurately, clearly gives us an understanding of the ideal, without which, in his opinion, a meaningful human life is impossible. He is sure that pragmatism without spirituality is doomed. That is why Chekhov is closer not to Lopakhin, a representative of capitalism that was emerging in Russia, but rather to the “eternal student” Petya Trofimov, at first glance pathetic and funny, but it is for him that the author sees the future, because Petya is kind.
Anya, another character that Chekhov sympathizes with. It seems to be inept and ridiculous, but there is a certain charm and pureness in her, for which Anton Pavlovich is ready to forgive her everything. He understands perfectly well that Lopakhins, Ranevskaya, etc. will not disappear from our lives, Chekhov still sees the future for good romantics. Even if they are somewhat helpless.
Anton Pavlovich's indignation causes Lopakhin's complacency. With all the originality of Chekhov's humanism, one cannot feel or hear this. Forgotten in a boarded up house, Firs sounds like a metaphor, the meaning of which is still relevant today. Let Firs be stupid, old, but he is a man, and he has been forgotten. The man has been forgotten!
The essence of the play is in its everydayness. But an empty, boarded-up house with Firs forgotten in it and the sound of an ax cutting down a cherry orchard make a depressing impression, touching and revealing the subtle and painful state of our soul. Once, through the mouth of his hero, Shukshin said: "It is not death that is terrible, but parting."
The play "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov is just about this, about parting. Parting, in the philosophical sense, with life. Let, by and large, not entirely successful, somewhat unhappy, past in useless aspirations, but the one that will never be. Alas, this understanding usually comes at the end of our existence on mortal earth.
"The Cherry Orchard" is a deeply tragic thing, nevertheless, it is called a comedy by Chekhov. Paradox? Not at all. This, his last dying work, is a kind of farewell to the reader, the era, life ... Apparently, therefore, fear, sadness and at the same time joy are “poured” through the whole play.
Chekhov called The Cherry Orchard a comedy not to define the genre, but as an indication to action. By playing a play as a tragedy, tragedy cannot be achieved. She will not be sad, or scary or sad, she will be nothing. Only in a comedy interpretation, having reached dissonance, can one achieve an understanding of the acuteness of the problems of human existence.
A.P. Chekhov's reflections on universal human values do not leave us indifferent even today. Theatrical performances of The Cherry Orchard on the modern stage are proof of this.
The origins of the work
Very often the question arises, what is supposed to be in the history of the creation of Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard"? In order to understand this, it is necessary to remember at the turn of which eras Anton Pavlovich worked. He was born in the 19th century, society was changing, people and their worldview were changing, Russia was moving towards a new system, which developed rapidly after the abolition of serfdom. The history of the creation of the play "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov - the final work of his work - begins, perhaps, with the very departure of young Anton to Moscow in 1879.
From an early age, Anton Chekhov was fond of dramaturgy and, being a student of the gymnasium, tried to write in this genre, but these first attempts at writing became known after the death of the writer. One of the plays is called "Fatherlessness", written around 1878. A very voluminous work, it was staged on the stage of the theater only in 1957. The volume of the play did not correspond to Chekhov's style, where "brevity is the sister of talent", but those touches that changed the entire Russian theater are already visible.
Anton Pavlovich's father had a small shop, located on the first floor of the Chekhovs' house, the family lived on the second. However, since 1894, things in the store went from bad to worse, and in 1897 the father went bankrupt completely, the whole family was forced, after the sale of property, to move to Moscow, in which the older children had already settled by that time. Therefore, from an early age, Anton Chekhov learned what it was like when you have to part with the most precious thing - your home to pay off your debts. Already at a more mature age, Chekhov repeatedly encountered cases of the sale of noble estates at auctions to "new people", and in modern terms - to businessmen.
Originality and timeliness
The creative history of The Cherry Orchard begins in 1901, when Chekhov, for the first time in a letter to his wife, announced that he had conceived a new play, unlike those that he had written before. From the very beginning, he conceived it as a kind of comedic farce, in which everything would be very frivolous, fun and carefree. The plot of the play was the sale of an old landowner's estate for debts. Chekhov had already tried to reveal this topic earlier in "Fatherlessness", but it took him 170 pages of handwritten text, and a play of such a volume could not fit into the framework of one performance. Yes, and Anton Pavlovich did not like to remember his early offspring. Having honed the skill of the playwright to perfection, he again took up her.
The situation of the sale of the house was close and familiar to Chekhov, and after the sale of his father's house in Taganrog, he was interested and excited by the psychic tragedy of such cases. Thus, his own painful impressions and the story of his friend A.S. Kiselev became the basis of the play. Also before the eyes of the writer passed many abandoned noble estates in the Kharkov province, where he rested. The action of the play takes place, by the way, in those parts. Anton Pavlovich observed the same deplorable state of the estates and the situation of their owners on his estate in Melikhovo, and as a guest in the estate of K.S. Stanislavsky. He observed what was happening and comprehended what was happening for more than 10 years.
The process of impoverishment of the nobles lasted a long time, they simply lived out their fortunes, wasting them unwisely and not thinking about the consequences. The image of Ranevskaya has become collective, depicting proud, noble people who have difficulty adapting to modern life, from which the right to own a human resource in the form of serfs working for the well-being of their masters has disappeared.
A play born in pain
About three years passed from the beginning of work on the play to its production. This was due to a number of reasons. One of the main ones is the author's poor health, and even in letters to friends he complained that the work was progressing very slowly, sometimes it turned out to write no more than four lines a day. However, despite feeling unwell, he tried to write a work that was light in genre.
The second reason can be called Chekhov's desire to fit into his play, intended for staging on the stage, the whole result of thoughts about the fate of not only ruined landowners, but also about such people typical of that era as Lopakhin, the eternal student Trofimov, in whom one feels a revolutionary-minded intellectual . Even the work on the image of Yasha required enormous efforts, because it was through him that Chekhov showed how the historical memory of his roots is being erased, how society and the attitude towards the Motherland as a whole are changing.
The work on the characters was very meticulous. It was important for Chekhov that the actors could fully convey the idea of the play to the audience. In letters, he described in detail the characters of the characters, gave detailed comments on each scene. And he emphasized that his play is not a drama, but a comedy. However, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko and K.S. Stanislavsky did not manage to consider anything comedic in the play, which greatly upset the author. The production of The Cherry Orchard was difficult for both the stage directors and the playwright. After the premiere, which took place on January 17, 1904, on Chekhov's birthday, disputes broke out between critics, but no one remained indifferent to her.
Artistic methods and style
On the one hand, the history of writing Chekhov's comedy "The Cherry Orchard" is not so long, and on the other hand, Anton Pavlovich went to her all his creative life. Images have been collected for decades, artistic techniques that show everyday life without pathos on stage have also been honed for more than one year. "The Cherry Orchard" became another cornerstone in the annals of the new theater, which began largely thanks to Chekhov's talent as a playwright.
From the moment of the first production to the present day, the directors of this performance do not have a common opinion on the genre of this play. Someone sees a deep tragedy in what is happening, calling it a drama, some perceive the play as a tragicomedy or tragedy. But everyone is unanimous in the opinion that The Cherry Orchard has long become a classic not only in Russian, but also in the global dramaturgy.
A brief description of the history of the creation and writing of the famous play will help grade 10 students prepare a summary and lessons while studying this wonderful comedy.
Artwork test
A.P. Chekhov first mentioned the idea of writing the play "The Cherry Orchard" in one of his letters dated in the spring of 1901.
At first, it was conceived by him "as a funny play, wherever the devil would walk like a yoke." In 1903, when work on The Cherry Orchard continued, A.P. Chekhov wrote to his friends: "The whole play is cheerful, frivolous." The theme of the play "the estate goes under the hammer" was by no means new to the writer.
Previously, she was touched by him in the drama "Fatherlessness" (1878-1881). Throughout his career, Chekhov was interested and worried about the psychological tragedy of the situation of the sale of the estate and the loss of the house. Therefore, the play "The Cherry Orchard" reflected many of the writer's life experiences associated with the sale of his father's house in Taganrog, and acquaintance with the Kiselevs, who owned the Babkino estate near Moscow, where the Chekhov family visited in the summer of 1885-1887. In many ways, the image of Gaev was copied from A.S.
Kiselev, who became a member of the board of a bank in Kaluga after the forced sale of the estate for debts. In 1888 and 1889, Chekhov rested at the Lintvarev estate, near Sumy, Kharkov province. There he saw with his own eyes the neglected and dying noble estates. Chekhov could observe the same picture in detail in 1892-1898, living in his estate Melikhovo, and also in the summer of 1902, when he lived in Lyubimovka - the estate of K. S. Stanislavsky.
The growing strength of the "third estate", which was notable for its tough business acumen, gradually ousted from the "noble nests" their ruined masters, who thoughtlessly lived out their fortunes. From all this, Chekhov drew the idea for the play, which later reflected many details of the life of the inhabitants of the dying noble estates.
Work on the play "The Cherry Orchard" required extraordinary efforts from the author. So, he writes to friends: "I write four lines a day, and those with unbearable torment." Chekhov, constantly struggling with bouts of illness and everyday troubles, writes a "peppy play". On October 5, 1903, the famous Russian writer N.K.
Garin-Mikhailovsky says in a letter to one of his correspondents: “I met and fell in love with Chekhov. He is bad.
And it burns out like the most wonderful day of autumn. Delicate, subtle, barely perceptible tones. A beautiful day, caress, peace, and the sea, mountains doze in it, and this moment seems eternal with a wonderful pattern given. And tomorrow ... He knows his tomorrow and is glad and satisfied that he has finished his drama "The Cherry Orchard". Chekhov also sends several letters to directors and actors, where he comments in detail on some scenes of The Cherry Orchard, gives the characteristics of his characters, with particular emphasis on the comedic features of the play.
But K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, the founders of the Art Theater, perceived it as a drama. According to Stanislavsky, the reading of the play by the troupe was greeted with "unanimous enthusiasm." He writes to Chekhov: "I cried like a woman, I wanted to, but I could not restrain myself.
I hear you say: "Excuse me, but this is a farce." No, for an ordinary person this is a tragedy ...
I feel special tenderness and love for this play." The production of the play required a special theatrical language, new intonations. Both its creator and the actors understood this very well.
It seemed to me that The Cherry Orchard was not a play, but a piece of music, a symphony. And this play must be played especially truthfully, but without real rudeness." However, the director's interpretation of "The Cherry Orchard" did not satisfy Chekhov. vision and logic of the play's movement to the dramatic finale, which meant the end of the former life, the loss of the house and the death of the garden.
Chekhov was extremely indignant that the performance was deprived of comedic intonations. He believed that Stanislavsky, who played the role of Gaev, dragged out the action in the fourth act too much. Chekhov confesses to his wife: "How terrible it is! The act, which should last 12 minutes maximum, you have 40 minutes. Stanislavsky ruined my play." In December 1903, Stanislavsky complained: "The Cherry Orchard" "does not bloom yet.
Flowers had just appeared, the author arrived and confused us all. The flowers have fallen off, and now only new buds are appearing. "A.P. Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard as a play about home, about life, about the motherland, about love, about losses, about the rapidly escaping time. However, at the beginning of the 20th century this was not seemed far indisputable.Each new play by Chekhov evoked the most varied assessments.
The comedy "The Cherry Orchard" was no exception, where the nature of the conflict, the characters, the poetics of Chekhov's dramaturgy were new and unexpected. For example, A. M. Gorky described Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" as a rehash of old motifs: "I listened to Chekhov's play - in reading it does not give the impression of a big thing. New - not a word. Everything - moods, ideas - if you can talk about them - faces - all this was already in his plays.
Of course - beautifully and - of course - from the stage it will blow on the audience with green melancholy. And I don't know what the anguish is about."
Despite constant disagreements, the premiere of "The Cherry Orchard" nevertheless took place on January 17, 1904 - on the birthday of A.P. Chekhov. The Art Theater timed it to the 25th anniversary of the literary activity of A.P. Chekhov.
The entire artistic and literary elite of Moscow gathered in the hall, and among the spectators were A. Bely, V. Ya. Bryusov, A. M.
Gorky, S. V. Rakhmaninov, F. I. Chaliapin. The appearance on the stage after the third act of the author was met with long applause.
The last play by A.P. Chekhov, which became his creative testament, began its independent life.
The demanding Russian public greeted the play with great enthusiasm, whose bright spirit could not help captivating the viewer. Performances of "The Cherry Orchard" were successfully staged in many theaters in Russia. But, nevertheless, Chekhov never saw a performance that fully corresponded to his creative ideas. "The chapter on Chekhov is not over yet," Stanislavsky wrote, recognizing that A.P. Chekhov had far outstripped the development of the theatre.
Contrary to critical forecasts, The Cherry Orchard has become an unfading classic of the national theater. The artistic discoveries of the author in dramaturgy, his original vision of the contradictory aspects of life are unusually clearly manifested in this thoughtful work.
