September 21: the birthday of Olga Knipper-Chekhova, an actress at the Moscow Art Theatre and the love and wife of Anton Chekhov.
Olga Knipper was born on September 21, 1868, in Glazov. An actress at the Moscow Art Theater, she was Anton Chekhov's love and wife—his "Hungarian horse," "German," "dog," and "Olka."
I can live only when I am loved... What a weak person I am!
(To Chekhov, 1901)
Childhood in Glazov and Moscow
Olga Knipper was born in Glazov, into a family of a German with Hungarian roots – engineer and technologist Leonard Knipper and music teacher Anna Saltsa.
When she was three, her family moved to Moscow. She attended a private girls' school. She dreamed of the theater, but her father wanted her to be an artist or a translator.
At 18, she met 32-year-old engineer Shukhov, the future architect of the Shabolovka TV tower. The affair lasted two years, and everyone was expecting marriage, but Shukhov's mother disapproved.
She was 26 when her father died. She had to earn her living by giving piano lessons.
It was a time of great internal transformation, from a “young lady” I was turning into a free person earning my own living.
The path to the stage of the Moscow Art Theatre
At 27, in 1895, she entered the Moscow Theatre School. A month later, she was expelled: they needed to make room for "someone of their own." However, she was accepted without a competition to the Drama School at the Moscow Philharmonic, into Nemirovich-Danchenko's class.
In 1898, she graduated from the Academy and joined the newly formed Moscow Art Theatre troupe. Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavsky were creating a "new" theatre: free of pretentiousness and clichés, with a fresh repertoire and affordable tickets.
Olga Knipper and Anton Chekhov
Knipper made her debut as Tsarina Irina in Tsar Feodor Ivanovich. In the autumn of 1898, during rehearsals for The Seagull, which had flopped in St. Petersburg two years earlier, she met Chekhov. Her Arkadina captivated the author:
Irina, in my opinion, is magnificent. Her voice, her nobility, her sincerity—so good that it even makes my throat itch… If I had stayed in Moscow, I would have fallen in love with this Irina.
Chekhov, suffering from tuberculosis and living in Yalta, did not attend the premiere of "The Seagull." But everyone who wrote to him about his triumph praised Knipper's performance.
In the spring of 1899, a special showing of "The Seagull" was arranged for Chekhov in Moscow. He spent a lot of time with the actors, especially becoming friends with Knipper: they spent long walks and conversations. That summer, she visited him in Yalta. A correspondence ensued—a romance that spanned nearly 1000 letters.
Yes, you're right: the writer Chekhov hasn't forgotten the actress Knipper. Moreover, he finds your proposal to travel together from Batumi to Yalta charming.
(1.07.1899)
Why aren't you coming, Anton? I don't understand anything. I'm not writing because I'm waiting for you.
(24.09.1900)
In the spring of 1900, the Moscow Art Theater toured Crimea. Knipper lived in Chekhov's house, and they no longer hid their relationship. They married in the summer of 1901.
You are healthy and happy, my darling... And now I really want you to have a little half-German who would entertain you, filling your life
(2.11.1901)
Antonka, my dear, just stood before your portrait, gazing at it, sat down to write, and burst into tears. I long to be near you, I scold myself for not giving up the stage… It hurts me to think that you are there alone, pining, bored, and I am here busy with some ephemeral task… And how I long, Antonka, to have a half-German! <…> Your dog
(6.11.1901)
The ironic nicknames Chekhov gave his wife might seem strange to an outsider—but they weren't intended for prying eyes. And Knipper accepted and supported this "elder Anthony" game ("just don't be too small, my girl!").
The "half-German" was not destined to be born: both pregnancies ended in miscarriage.
Chekhov took the separation from his wife and the gossip about her affairs calmly:
If we are not together now, then it is not I or you who are to blame, but the demon who put bacilli into me, and love for art into you.
After Chekhov
Chekhov died in her arms in July 1904. For some time afterward, she continued to write him letters:
My Anton! Where are you now? I don't know.
(19.08.1904)
According to the will, she received a dacha in Gurzuf and 5000 rubles.
Knipper-Chekhova began signing her double surname much later. In the early 1920s, she toured with Kachalov's group in Bulgaria and, to attract audiences, agreed to add the hyphenated Chekhova name to the poster.
Olga Knipper-Chekhova worked at the Moscow Art Theatre her entire life. Her favorite role was Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard. She had relationships with men, but never remarried.
She played her last role in 1950. She spent her final years alone and became nearly blind. She outlived Chekhov by 55 years, dying in 1959, at the age of 90.