The Choir Singers (Chekhov)
The Choir Singers ( Russian Певчие , Pewtschije ) is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov , which appeared on February 25, 1884 in the weekly newspaper Oskolki . The story is based on childhood memories of the author. Konstantin Arsenjew remarked in the December issue of Westnik Jewropy in 1887 that a source of humor gushed in the small text from the contrast between weeks of intensive rehearsal work by the choir and the subsequent bitter disappointment of artistic expectations. The story was translated into Serbo-Croatian during the author's lifetime.
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The landlord, Count Vladimir Ivanytsch, usually lives in Moscow . Now he confuses Kuzma, the priest of the village of Yefremov, with the news that he wants to visit his property in Yefremov occasionally. The priest asks the psalm reader Alexej Alexejitsch to rehearse two choral songs on the occasion of the count's imminent arrival. Alexej, nothing more than a church servant , also works as a singing teacher for boys, gladly declares himself ready, but makes no secret of his fear of any kind of hustle and bustle on the part of his enemy. The latter is considered to be the deacon Jewlampi Avdijessow. For example, Alexei had drawn the short straw after a dispute with the deacon and had at the behest of the provost punishment kneeling two hours.
Alexej practices for two months with his church choir, made up of boys and men. When the Count finally arrived from Moscow, in a first conversation he told the deacon, among other things, that choral singing should be dropped from the program without further ado during the celebration of his arrival. Jewlampi Avdijessow immediately informs his enemy Alexej with relish how could the latter believe that an atheist like the Count is listening to the long and broad hymns. Then the deacon teases the deeply offended choirmaster Alexej a little more.
Two enemies finally become friends who want to drown their grief together in alcohol. How did it come about? The Pope Kusma had carelessly asked the Count what he thought of the deacon's voice. The landlord Vladimir Ivanytsch replied: “Anyone can scream. In humans, the voice is not as important as the mind. "
Used edition
- Gerhard Dick (Hrsg.), Wolf Düwel (Hrsg.): Anton Chekhov: Collected Works in Individual Volumes : The Choir Singers. P. 171–177 in: Gerhard Dick (ed.): Anton Chekhov: From rain to eaves. Short stories. Translated from Russian by Ada Knipper and Gerhard Dick. With a foreword by Wolf Düwel. 630 pages. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1964 (1st edition)
Web links
- The text
- Wikisource: Певчие (Чехов) (Russian)
- online in Lib.ru (Russian)
- online in FEB (Russian)
- Chekhov Bibliography, Entry Stories No. 180 (Russian)
- Reference to first appearance in the Laboratory of Fantastics (Russian)