By Anton Chekhov - Center Stage

Glossary
Compiled by Gavin Witt, Production Dramaturg
“forget thy wrath, Aleko”—Solyony quotes from, and refers to
the hero of—The Gypsies, an epic poem by legendary Russian
poet Alexander Pushkin—who, incidentally, died in a duel.
Aleko is a hot-blooded youth who falls in love with a very
pretty—and very married—young gypsy woman. She cannot
resist the handsome Aleko, and their illicit affair comes to an
abrupt and violent conclusion at the hands of her husband.
In 1893, at 19, then-student Sergei Rachmaninoff composed
an opera, Aleko, based on The Gypsies. See Pushkin entry in
additional material on page 16.
“Balzac was married in Berdichev”—Balzac was an influential
French novelist and one of the founders of literary Realism in
Europe. In 1850, already dying, he did indeed travel to Berdichev
(or Berdyczow) in Poland, where he married a wealthy woman
with whom he’d long corresponded. He died three months
later. Merely a coincidence, no doubt.
“Our new battery commander”—Lt. Col. Vershinin commands
an artillery battery—a group of field guns and their support,
about 285 men—the equivalent of an infantry company within
the larger regiment.
“Moscow burned down too”—When Napoleon invaded Russia
in 1812, the Russians burned everything to deprive the French
troops of their conquest. When they finally burned Moscow as
well, Napoleon’s army began its disastrous and deadly retreat
back to France.
Carnival—pre-Lenten festivities much like Mardi Gras,
celebrated in Russian folk tradition with parties, music, and
costume parades.
Copernicus—15 th -century astronomer and mathematician who,
studying the solar system, first suggested that the sun and
not the earth was the center of the cosmic dance. With Galileo,
one of the founders of modern astronomy. Vershinin equates
Copernicus with Columbus for the latter’s part in disproving
the flat-earth theories of his day.
Dobrolyubov—influential Russian liberal, a literary and social
critic in the mid-19 th Century.
epidemic—widespread outbreak of a highly contagious
disease simultaneously affecting a large number of people
in a community or region. As a doctor, Chekhov several times
helped provide medical care during regional epidemics—most
notably of cholera.
Gogol—Russian master of satirical comedy, most famous for
The Inspector General and his absurdist short stories.
highfalutin—pretentious or fancy; pompous
Lermontov—Solyony fancies himself in the mold of the Russian
Romantic poet Mikhail Lermontov, a Byronic figure who died in
a duel before he was 30. Chekhov, however, was quite clear in
his notes that any resemblance to Lermontov was entirely in
Solyony’s head. See additional material on page 17.
Moscow—the principal city of eastern, or Slavic, Russia, as
distinguished from the western, or European, St. Petersburg.
Unlike St. Petersburg’s regular street plan, broad boulevards,
and urbane sophistication, Moscow in Chekhov’s day was
notoriously unkempt, disordered, and chaotic.
naphtha—A highly volatile, flammable liquid distilled from
petroleum, coal tar, and natural gas and used as fuel or as a
solvent—a fairly dangerous choice of hair-care products.
rubles—basic unit of currency in Russia (consisting of 100
kopeks per ruble). In 1901, a generous annual salary was 150
rubles; the money Andrey has lost gambling represents a very
hefty sum.
samovar—a metal urn with a spigot, heated by spirits or coals,
traditionally used to heat water for tea. The gift Chebutykin
presents is inappropriately elaborate, embarrassing Irina.
sophistry—an intentionally false but logically plausible
argument usually intended to deceive someone.
“there’s a storm coming”—Only four years after the premiere
of The Three Sisters, the 1905 Revolution broke out all over
Russia in response to the dire need for social and economic
reform at all levels. Tuzenbach alludes to the fairly obvious
stirrings of revolt, which ultimately led to the Bolshevik
Revolution and the overthrow of the czar in 1917.
“wearing a white dress”—as distinguished from the mourning
black Irina would have been wearing for the past year in honor
of her father’s death. See additional material on page 15.
“don’t whistle like that”—Superstition held that by whistling
inside the house, you might “whistle your money away.”
Eugene Onegin—In the midst of Chekhov’s Act III, Vershinin
sings a passage from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin—the
famous basso aria sung in the opera’s own third act by Prince
Gremin, who has married Onegin’s true love, Tatiana. “Love
is appropriate to any age,” Gremin sings; “its delights are
beneficent.” The opera, one of Tchaikovsky’s masterworks,
was based on the poem of the same name by Pushkin.
Next Stage: The Three Sisters | 14