This 20-minute cycle of seven solos and duets for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and piano was premiered in 1996 by Frederica von Stade, Håkan Hagegård and Martin Katz. With a text based on letters and a memoir, it communicates the relationship of Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper from their meeting in 1898, through their marriage, to his untimely death in 1904.