1904 If there is an iconically Russian moment in Chekhov’s drama, it is Irina’s last, emotional utterance at the end of the second act of Three Sisters: ‘To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!’
Dying of TB, the dramatist made his escape from Yalta (‘Siberia’, as he called it – despite the climatic clemency) on 3 May 1904. He arrived in Moscow in leafy spring. Soon after arrival, his doctors (like most of the best Russian physicians, Germans) advised a further trip, to the health resort of Badenweiler (near the less exclusive Baden-Baden) in the Black Forest. The terminally ill Chekhov was packed onto yet another train, for yet another interminable journey. He took his last farewell from Moscow on 3 June.
Chekhov and his wife arrived at the German spa on 9 June. He died three weeks later. His last letter was to his mother:
Dearest Mama,
I send you greetings. My health is improving and I should think that I will be completely better in a week. I like it here. It’s quiet and warm, there is a lot of sunshine but it’s not too hot. Olga [his wife] bows to you and sends her love. My respects to Masha, Vanya and everyone else. I bow deeply before you and kiss your hand. I wrote to Masha yesterday.
Your Anton
Rosamund Bartlett (in Chekhov: Scenes from a Life) describes the scene of his death:
Chekhov spent his last day playing patience, and died in the early hours of a warm July night, in the presence of his wife, Dr Schwoerer, and the student Leve Rabenek. It had been the first time he had actually asked for a doctor and Olga had dispatched Rabenek to run down the road to Schwoerer’s house and ask him to come. Events then moved rapidly and Chekhov died immediately after downing the glass of champagne prescribed by Schwoerer.
This was 2 July. His body was dispatched back to Moscow and buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery a week later. He was, in a sense, home.