About the work
The Wedding is a one-act play by Anton Chekhov based on his own 1884 short story "A Wedding with a General." Written in 1889, it first appeared in 1890 in a lithographed Moscow edition intended for private use; the earliest documented stage performances took place only in 1902, at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg and the Korsh Theatre in Moscow. The German-language premiere followed in 1928 in Braunschweig.
Plot
At a wedding celebration, the groom complains about the lack of socially prestigious guests, while the bride's parents hire an insurance agent to procure a general as guest of honour. Instead of a general, however, only a retired naval captain shows up; a tedious, overbearing guest and financial discrepancies eventually turn the celebration into a scandal.
Cultural significance
The one-act play satirises the status-conscious wedding customs of the Russian petty bourgeoisie and was translated into several languages already during Chekhov's lifetime.