Synopsis

Act I

Act II (joined with Act I)

Act III

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

10. Ouverture
11. Hunt. Entry of Odette
12. Entry of the Swans
13. Danse of the Swans (sequence fromI to VII in the following order:
I. Valse – V. Adage – IV. Petits Cygnes– VI. Grands Cygnes – The Prince’s
variation normally cut –II. Variation d’Odette – VII. Coda;
part III has been abolished)
14. Finale

15. Entry of the guests
16. Dance of the dwarfs (entry of theQueen)
20. Hungarian czárdás
21. Spanish dance
22. Neapolitan dance
23. Mazurka
17. Valse (presentation of marriageablegirls)
18. Allegro (entry of Rothbart and Odile)19. (no. 19 has been eliminated, leavingroom for the pas de deux by theBlack Swan to the musiccorresponding to no. 5 of Act I,with the addition of a variation
for Rothbart, taken from Act I)
24. Finale

Ball at the palace1
Valse
Entry of the Prince’s motherPas de trois (except for part II)
No. 5 passes into Act III for theBlack Swan’s pas de deux
6. Pas d’action (here, the tutor andthe Prince)
7. and 8. Danses de coupes (Danceand Polonaise, danced solely by
the male corps de ballet; a variationfor Siegfried has been added:part II of no. 4)
9. Finale (the Prince, who in the
traditional version goes hunting,here remains alone in his palace)Prince Siegfried’s twentieth birthday is
being celebrated. Wolfgang, the Prince’stutor, introduces the guests. The
Queen, Siegfried’s mother, entersaccompanied by knights, and exhorts
the guests to rejoice with her, for thePrince is soon to be married and shallchoose his betrothed from the girls
whom she herself has invited to theball. Pensively, the Prince dreams of an
ideal love, and for this reason his tutor
tries to bring him down to earth and toremind him of the duties that await
him. Siegfried however seems deaf toreason. His spirit seeks to escape thereality that surrounds him and to takerefuge in dreams.

Teatro alla Scala

The Prince, absorbed in thought, sees awhite swan-woman appear, her headadorned with a crown. Bewitched,
Siegfried approaches her. The swan
confides to him that she is a princess
named Odette, and that she has been
turned into a swan, with other maidens
who, like her, are the victims of a spell
cast by the wicked Rothbart. The spell
can only be broken if a man will swear
eternal love to her. Struck by thisconfession, Siegfried promises torescue Odette. Despite the interventionof an enormous bird of prey (Rothbart)
which disturbs their sweet encounter,
Odette and Siegfried exchange a pledgeof love. Odette’s swan-girls shield thetwo lovers with their bodies againstattack from Rothbart. Siegfried invites
Odette to the ball which his mother,
the Queen, is giving the following day
and during which he must choose hisbride. He insists that Odette attend theball because he wishes to ask her handin marriage. Odette replies that thiswill be impossible, due to her condition
as a swan. Siegfried then declares that
he will not marry, and swears eternallove to Odette. As dawn rises theapparitions fade away. The Prince isperturbed.

At the palace the master of ceremonies
opens the celebrations. The Queen
accompanies Prince Siegfried, whoseems however to care about nothing, as
if estranged from the world around him.
After the divertissement of folk dancesfrom different countries, the young girls
aspiring to marry the Prince are presented to him. He however rejects them all,until a mysterious creature who looks
incredibly like Odette enters the palace.
As if rapt and subdued by this image,Siegfried has eyes only for her, for thiscreature whom he believes to be hisbeloved Odette. But the swan that
resembles her so closely is but Odile,daughter of Baron von Rothbart, whom
her father has transformed by magic
into Odette’s double. And the Prince,
blinded by love, asks her hand inmarriage. Rothbart triumphs. Siegfried
is about to perjure himself. Odette canno longer be saved.

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Act IV (joined with Act III)
25. Overture
26. Entry of the Swans
27. Dance of the Swans
28. Entry of Odette
29. Final scene (Entry of Prince. Adagio
to the music of sequence III of no.
19 of Act III. Storm)
Siegfried, now increasingly aware of hiserror, is in deep despair. The vision ofthe lake returns. Surrounded by theswans, Odette weeps over her lost love.
All hope is extinguished, even though
Siegfried’s betrayal has been
involuntary. Consumed with remorse,
the Prince beseeches Odette to forgive
him, but it is too late. Rothbart takes
Odette away from Siegfried forever. His
dream ends.2
Il lago dei cigni

1

The numbers and titles in italics arethose of Tchaikovsky’s original score
and of the first version of the ballet
performed in Moscow in 1877. The
indications in brackets refer to thepresent version by Rudolf Nureyev.

2In the 1877 version, a violent storm
swallowed up Odette and Siegfried.
In that of 1895, Odette, desperate after
Siegfried’s betrayal, threw herself into
the lake and Siegfried killed himself
in grief. They both found one anotheragain in the realm of waves for a life
together. After the 1917 Revolution,even the protagonists of balletsomehow had to be assimilated to theconcept of “positive heroes”. And
precisely in order to comply with thisnew philosophy, the finale of theballet was altered. After a long fightbetween Rothbart and Siegfried, inthe 1953 version by Vladimir
Bourmeister, Odette resumed heroriginal human shape and went off
with the Prince towards happiness.

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