Да ісправится молитва моя...

An excerpt from an article in honor of the ten-year anniversary of the death of Anton Chekhov in “The Work of the Choir and Director”, 1914, No. 9:

http://kliros.org/content/view/43/4/.

 Pavel Egorovich is the father of Chekhov. He was a choir director, and attempted to drag his boys - including Anton, who did not care to sing - into church singing....

"...Finally the desired day came. Pavel Egorovich found out that services would be offered for a while again in the Taganrog palace - where Emperor Alexander the Blessed had lived for some time and died. Both the palace and the church had stood on the grounds of a castle and no services had taken place for years. But now, here in the palace church, services were to begin again. Pavel Egorovich was encouraged to sing with his choir. He expected that it would all unfold in new way, with the elite of the city attending the palace church. He would celebrate a sort of victory … The former choir of Pavel Egorovich was resurrected and serious work was undertaken by the singers. The choir began to sing from the start of Passion Week. But few of the local elite came as Pavel Egorovich had expected: the old-lady-benefactor, two or three important figures from the circuit court with their wives, some kind of colonel, an elderly woman from the Smolny Institute, the mayor, and that is all … But Pavel Egorovich was buoyant. He assumed a dignified air, straightened his tie, smoothed his beard, and peering out at the choir with a strict stare said quietly:

“Attention, sirs…”

The most important moment for him arrived at the moment for stepping out to the center of the church to begin “Let my prayer arise…”. He made a sign with his hand to the children, who had turned pale, and he set out with them to the middle of the church.

“Tra-ta-ti-ta-tom,” Pavel Egovorich gave the pitch, bringing the tuning fork to his ear.

The gymnasium students coughed and froze, the director moved his hand, lifted it, and whispered:

“Begin... Let my…”

Not a sound from the gymnasium students! An awful pause ensued. Pavel Egorovich again gave the tone:

“Tra-ta-ti-ta-tom. Hm… Let my…”

“Let my prayer,” Sasha begins without any confidence and looks at his brothers.

But the brothers were mute. Kolya was completely dumbstruck. Antosha opened his mouth but was unable to make a sound. Sasha becomes timid, stops suddenly and remains silent. Pavel Egorovich blushes and continues on:

“Let my prayer…”

The children were completely at a loss, but the father urges them on from behind. Sasha begins to join in singing. After him Kolya and Antosha begin haphazardly. But Antosha - due to a lack of pitch - in no way can get to the tone. All three of them feel that they will simply die, but Pavel Egorovich bravely holds his own part and little by little carries the children along with him. The matter haphazardly adjusts itself and the students almost take heart, but their voices waver and each second teeters on the brink of ruin.

The two verses are completed. There only remains to sing again “Let my prayer…” - not standing, but kneeling – and the matter is finished. Pavel Egorovich in a whisper indicates to the children to go down on their knees and he himself kneels. Sasha and Kolya obey unquestioningly, but Antosha becomes confused and stalls. Father gestures to him and he – red in the face – falls down, but he cannot sing. From behind, in the congregation, a restrained laughter is heard and tears begin to run down Antosha’s cheeks. From his face it is clear that he is suffering. Pavel Egorovich is perplexed and then, looking at the feet of his son, is confused himself. Terribly worn out soles gape from Anton’s boots and worn out stockings and a dirty, naked toe are visible from two enormous holes.

Scandal! Even Pavel Egorovich never envisioned such unhappiness! It is true that Antosha two weeks ago had announced that his boots were in serious “need of repair,” but his father did not pay the necessary attention then. Who would have been able to foretell such a misfortune?

The singing stops haphazardly with great confusion. Pavel Egorovich leads the children away and returns to his place as director and begins to lead the choir.

The situation is not a happy one, and there is no one to blame, and the matter cannot be rectified. Instead of his victory – defeat…"


- translated RM; revised AM