Swan Lake

***Swan Lake*** is a romantic ballet in four acts. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the music. In 1871 he wrote a little ballet about swans for his nieces and nephews. He used some of the music from this ballet for _Swan Lake_.  The story of the ballet is based on a German fairy tale. This tale was probably tweaked by Tchaikovsky and his friends during the ballet's early discussion stages.

_Swan Lake_ is about a prince named Siegfried. He falls in love with the Swan princess, Odette. She is a swan by day, but a young woman at night. She is under a magic spell that can only be broken by a man who will make a promise to love her for all time. Siegfried makes the promise. He is tricked though by the magician who cast the spell. The ballet ends with the deaths of Siegfried and Odette.

The ballet was first performed on 4 March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Critics looked upon it as a failure for many reasons. In 1895 some changes were made to the ballet. It was then performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. This time the critics thought _Swan Lake_ a great success. Most performances today are based on this 1895 version.

## Plot

**Act 1:** _1. Scène_The curtain rises on Prince Siegfried's birthday party. He is 21. On the next evening a grand ball will be held. He is to select a bride from six visiting princesses. Wolfgang, his tutor, introduces a band of peasants to the merrymakers. _2. Valse. 3. Scène._ The Queen Mother enters. She thinks Siegfried is frivolous. The Queen Mother leaves. Benno encourages the Prince to continue the fun. _4. Pas de trois._Dances for the peasants. _5. Pas de deux._Dances for the merrymakers. _6. Pas d'action._Wolfgang is drunk and collapses. _7. Sujet._The sun sets. Siegfried suggests a final dance. _8. Danse des coupes._The merrymakers dance a _polonaise_ holding their goblets. _9. Finale._A flock of swans flies overhead. Benno suggests a hunt. The Prince agrees. They set off.

**Act 2:** _10. Scène._A lake shimmering in the moonlight is seen. Siegfried and his friends watch a flock of swans glide across the lake's surface. _11. Scène._The hunters take aim. The birds are transformed into maidens. Their leader asks Siegfried why he troubles  them. She says that she is the Princess Odette. She and her companions have all been changed into swans by her wicked stepmother. They are watched by her stepmother's companion Von Rothbart in the guise of an owl. Only a marriage vow can break the spell that keeps her a swan by day and a maiden by night. _12. Scène._Siegfried says he loves Odette. She promises to attend tomorrow's ball. She warns him that her stepmother is very dangerous. _13. Danse des cygnes._ _14 Scène._ Dawn breaks. Odette and her friends return to the lake as swans.

**Act 3:** Guests arrive in Siegfried's castle for the selection of the Prince's  bride. _16. Danse du corps de ballet and des nains._All dance, including a group of dwarves. _17. Scène._La sortie des invités et la Valse. The six princesses arrive. _18. Scène._ Siegfried does not choose a bride from among the six princesses. Von Rothbart enters with his daughter Odile. She is disguised as Odette. _19. Pas de six._ The princesses dance. _20. Danse hongroise._ _21. Danse espagnole._ _22. Danse napolitaine._ _23. Danse Mazurka._ _24. Scène._Siegfried chooses Odile as his bride, believing she is Odette. Von Rothbart flees the hall as an owl. Siegfried rushes into the night to find Odette.
- Tchaikovsky later put a _pas de deux_ into Act 3 that is known as the "Black Swan pas de deux".

**Act 4:** _25. Entr'acte. 26. Scène._Odette's friends await her return to the lake. _27. Danse des petits cygnes. 28. Scène._ Odette collapses into her companions' arms. She tells them what has happened. A storm rises. Siegfried reaches Odette. _29. Scène finale._He begs her to forgive him. She dies of grief in his arms. He throws her crown upon the waters. The waves overwhelm him. The swans are seen gliding away across the lake.

## Libretto and score

In 1871 Tchaikovsky was passing the summer in Ukraine with his sister Alexandra Davydova. It was in her home at Kamenka that he wrote a short ballet about swans for her children to perform. The story of the ballet was based on "The Lake of Swans", a German fairy tale. Tchaikovsky used a musical theme from this children's ballet in the mature _Swan Lake_. Little else is known of this ballet for children.

In 1875 Vladimir Begitchev asked Tchaikovsky to write a ballet about swans. Begitchev was the official in charge of the repertory of the Imperial Theatres. Tchaikovsky accepted his invitation to write the ballet. He told Rimsky-Korsakov, "I accepted the work, partly because I want the money, but also because I have long had the wish to try my hand at this kind of music." In August he had completed sketches for two acts. He finished the ballet on 10 April 1876.

It is uncertain who wrote the libretto of the ballet. Both Begitchev and the dancer Vasily Geltzer were credited in the programme. They likely based it upon discussions with the artists who met at Begitchev's salon. They also used tales from Johann Musäus's _Volksmärchen der Deutschen_ (178286), a collection of German fairy and folk tales.

## Composition

Tchaikovsky had no experience writing ballet music for the professional theatre when he accepted Begitchev's invitation. In 1875  he began work on _Swan Lake_. It was his first ballet. He studied the ballet music of other writers. He liked the music and ballets of Leo Delibes. Tchaikovsky thought Delibes's music was pretty and tuneful. Tchaikovsky however would base _Swan Lake_ on a symphonic scale. Writing the music for _Swan Lake_ was a way for Tchaikovsky to avoid the reality of being a homosexual in czarist Russia. Russia was a repressive state. Homosexuals were sent to prison, exiled, or banished. Symphonies did not ease the stress in the way ballet music did; he had to put too much of his inner life into symphonies. He was hired to write _Swan Lake_ in May 1875. He completed the music in April 1876. The official responsible for the music at the Bolshoi Theatre thought Tchaikovsky's music impossible to understand. A _leitmotif_ in Tchaikovsky's little ballet music for his nieces and nephews came to be called the "Song of the Swans". Tchaikovsky used this _leitmotif_ in _Swan Lake_.

## Characters in the ballet

- Odette, the Swan Princess. Odette is a swan by day (like her sister swans) and a maiden by night. She appears in Acts 2 and 4, and very briefly in Act 3.
- Prince Siegfried, Odette's lover. Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette and promises to be true to her forever. He betrays Odette by accident. He appears in all four acts.
- Von Rothbart, is a magician who keeps Odette and her sister swans trapped in a magic spell. He takes the shape of an owl. He is defeated at the end of the ballet. He appears in Acts 2, 3, and 4. He is sometimes referred to as Rotbart. His name means "Red Beard".
- Odile, Von Rothbart's daughter. She is disguised as Odette. She tricks the prince into promising his love to her at a ball, and, in doing so, the Prince betrays Odette. She appears only in Act 3. Sometimes the ballerina playing Odette also performs the role of Odile.
- Wolfgang, the Prince's tutor. Wolfgang usually appears in Act 1. He becomes drunk on the wine. He appears in Acts 1 and 3.
- Benno, the Prince's friend. Benno suggests to the Prince and his friends that they hunt the swans in Act 1. Benno appears in Acts 1 and 3.
- Queen Mother, Siegfried's mother. The Queen Mother wants her son to choose a bride. She usually gives him a crossbow as a birthday gift in Act 1. She appears in Acts 1 and 3. The Queen Mother is a pantomime role.

## Structure of the ballet

- Overture
- **Act 1**
- No.1: Scène
- No.2: Valse (Waltz)
- No.3: Scène
- No.4: Pas de trois
- No.5: Pas de deux
- No.6: Pas d'action
- No.7: Sujet
- No.8: Danses des couppes {Goblet Dance}
- No.9: Finale
- **Act 2**
- No.10: Scène
- No.11: Scène
- No.12: Scène
- No.13: Danses des cygnes
- No.14: Scène
- **Act 3**
- No.16: Danse du corps de ballet and des nains (Dance for the _corps de ballet_ and the dwarves)
- No.17: Scène La sortie des invités et la Valse (Arrival of the guests and Waltz)
- No.18: Scène
- No.19: Pas de six (Dance for the six princesses)
- No.20: Danse hongroise (Hungarian dance)
- No.21: Danse espangnole (Spanish dance)
- No.22: Danse napolitaine (Neapolitan dance)
- No.23: Danse Mazurka (Mazurka)
- No.24: Scène
- At a date sometime after the first performance, Tchaikovsky inserted a spectacular pas de deux (now called the Black Swan pas de deux) after the Mazurka
- **Act 4**
- No.25: Entr'acte
- No.26: Scène
- No.27: Danse des petits cygnes (Dance of the baby swans)
- No.28: Scène
- No.29: Scène finale

## Music

John Warrack points out that Tchaikovsky put the drama in the story into music: "By making B the key of the tragedy, he initiates a musical "plot" with the dark forces of Rothbart tending to drag the tonality down into flatter keys. The main action, on the other hand, lies on the key area of A." Tchaikovsky balanced all the musical components of the work. "The divertissements are in his lightest, most appealing musical manner", Warrack writes, "The dances that further the plot have rather greater musical substance, while the scenes of narrative and action are in what was found his "symphonic" manner." Critics said Tchaikovsky's music was "too noisy, too 'Wagnerian' and too symphonic".

## First performance

Rehearsals for _Swan Lake_ began before Tchaikovsky finished the score, and took place over 11 months. Everyone involved in the production had never heard such a complex score for a ballet. They described the music as "undanceable". Even the conductor threw his hands up in despair over the music.

The choreographer Julius Reisinger was incompetent, and the sets lacked a cohesiveness because they were designed by three different men. In addition, the Bolshoi Theatre was suffering at the time from problems including the lack of a ballet master who could develop a production based on the score. The role of Odette was not given to a first rate dancer but instead to a second rate talent. The reason may have been political.

_Swan Lake_ was first performed on 4 March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Julius Reisinger designed the dances. Pauline Karpakova danced Odette. She put some numbers she liked from other ballets into _Swan Lake_. The ballet was a failure. In 1883 the Bolshoi dropped the ballet from its repertory. At that time, the sets were falling apart. It was not until 1901 that Alexander Gorsky staged a new production of _Swan Lake_ for the Bolshoi.

## Reception

The first performance of _Swan Lake_ was a disaster. Herman Laroche wrote, "I must say that I had never seen a poorer presentation on the Bolshoi stage. The costumes, decor, and machines did not hide in the least the emptiness of the dances. Not a single balletomane got out of it even five minutes of pleasure." He praised the music. He wrote that Tchaikovsky was "in excellent humour ... he was fully at the height of his genius." Tchaikovsky's brother Modest wrote, "The poverty of the production, meaning the décor and costumes, the absence of outstanding performers, the Ballet Master's weakness of imagination, and, finally, the orchestra ... all of this together permitted [Tchaikovsky] with good reason to cast the blame for the failure on others." The ballet was a moderate success with theatre-goers however. It was presented 33 times between its première at the Bolshoi in 1877 and its final performance in 1883.

## St. Petersburg revision, 1895

Tchaikovsky died on 6 November 1893. People started to take more interest in his music after his death. Lev Ivanov was the assistant Ballet Master at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. He designed new dances for Act 2. This act was presented on 1 March 1894 in a concert at the Mariinsky in memory of Tchaikovsky. Pierina Legnani danced Odette. The revised act was a great success. It was presented again with even greater success.  Marius Petipa was the Ballet Master at the Mariinsky. He was impressed with the success of these two presentations. He made the decision to stage the complete ballet at the Mariinsky. He designed the dances for Acts 1 and 3 while Ivanov designed the dances for Acts 2 and 4.

Riccardo Drigo was the conductor of the Mariinsky orchestra. He dropped some numbers from the ballet. He orchestrated three piano numbers from Tchaikovsky's Op. 72. He then put them in the ballet. These three numbers were "L'Espiègle", "Valse Bluette", and "Un poco di Chopin". He then put a number into Act 3 which he may have written himself.

Tchaikovsky's brother Modest changed the ballet's story a little for the revision. He gave the ballet a happy ending.  The new _Swan Lake_ was presented on 27 January 1895 at the Mariinsky. Pierina Legnani danced both Odette and Odile. The ballet was a great success. This version of the ballet is the one generally seen today.

## Thirty-two _fouettés en tournant_

_Swan Lake_ is famous for the 32 _fouettés en tournant_ in Act 3. These _fouettés_ are danced at the end of the "Black Swan" _pas de deux_ by the ballerina playing Odile.  The _pas_ was an afterthought of Tchaikovsky's. It was not included in the original production. It consists of the opening adagio followed by a variation for the male dancer. This is followed by a variation for the ballerina. The whole concludes with a brisk movement for both dancers that includes the _fouettés_. Pierina Legnani first danced the _fouettés_ in the Mariinsky production of 1895.  Ballet-goers were uncertain about the 32 _fouettés_. Some thought they were just a stunt. Others found them exciting. These ballet-goers went to every performance to count the number of turns.

## Other early productions

_Swan Lake_ became known in Europe and the United States not long after the revised version was presented at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1895. It was first presented in Europe at Prague in June 1907. It was first presented in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House in December 1911. Diaghilev's Ballets Russes presented a two-act _Swan Lake_ in London in 1911.  The Ballets Russes presented a one-act version in London in 1925. The complete _Swan Lake_ was first presented in England by the Sadler's Wells Ballet in November 1934. Ballerinas portraying Odette include Mathilde Kchessinska, Anna Pavlova, and Margot Fonteyn. Pavel Gerdt was the Prince Siegfried of the 1895 St. Petersburg production. Nijinsky and Rudolph Nureyev have also performed Prince Siegfried.

## Structure

The score used in this comparison is Tchaikovsky's score. It may be different from Riccardo Drigo's score which is usually performed today.  The titles for each number are taken from the original published score. Some of the numbers are titled simply as musical indications, those that are not are translated from their original French titles.

### Introduction

Moderato assai — Allegro non troppo — Tempo I

### Act I

- No. 1 Scène: Allegro giusto
- No. 2 Waltz: Tempo di valse
- No. 3 Scène: Allegro moderato
- No. 4 _Pas de trois_
    - I. Intrada (or Entrée): Allegro
    - II. Andante sostenuto
    - III. Allegro semplice, Presto
    - IV. Moderato
    - V. Allegro
    - VI. Coda: Allegro vivace
- No. 5 Pas de deux for Two Merry-makers (this number was later fashioned into the _Black Swan Pas de Deux_)
    - I. Tempo di valse ma non troppo vivo, quasi moderato
    - II. Andante - Allegro
    - III. Tempo di valse
    - IV. Coda: Allegro molto vivace
- No. 6 Pas d'action: Andantino quasi moderato – Allegro
- No. 7 Sujet (Introduction to the _Dance with Goblets_)
- No. 8 _Dance with Goblets_: Tempo di polacca
- No. 9 Finale: Sujet, Andante

### Act II

- No. 10 Scène: Moderato
- No. 11 Scène: Allegro moderato, Moderato, Allegro vivo
- No. 12 Scène: Allegro, Moderato assai quasi andante
- No. 13 _Dances of the Swans_
    - I. Tempo di valse
    - II. Moderato assai
    - III. Tempo di valse
    - IV. Allegro moderato (this number later became the famous _Dance of the Little Swans_)
    - V. Pas d'action: Andante, Andante non troppo, Allegro (material borrowed from _Undina_)
    - VI. Tempo di valse
    - VII. Coda: Allegro vivo
- No. 14 Scène: Moderato

### Act III

- No. 15 Scène: March – Allegro giusto
- No. 16 Ballabile: _Dance of the Corps de Ballet and the Dwarves_: Moderato assai, Allegro vivo
- No. 17 Entrance of the Guests and Waltz: Allegro, Tempo di valse
- No. 18 Scène: Allegro, Allegro giusto
- No. 19 _Grand Pas de six_.
    - I. Intrada (or Entrée): Moderato assai
    - II. Variation 1: Allegro
    - III. Variation 2: Andante con moto
    - IV. Variation 3: Moderato
    - V. Variation 4: Allegro
    - VI. Variation 5: Moderato, Allegro semplice
    - VII. Grand Coda: Allegro molto

#### Appendix I

_Pas de deux for Mme. Anna Sobeshchanskaya_ fashioned from the original music by Léon Minkus (AKA the _Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux_)
- No. 20 _Hungarian Dance_: Czardas – Moderato assai, Allegro moderato, Vivace

#### Appendix II

- No. 20a _Russian Dance for Mlle. Pelageya Karpakova_: Moderato, Andante semplice, Allegro vivo, Presto
- No. 21 _Spanish Dance_: Allegro non troppo (Tempo di bolero)
- No. 22 _Neapolitan/Venetian Dance_: Allegro moderato, Andantino quasi moderato, Presto
- No. 23 _Mazurka_: Tempo di mazurka
- No. 24 Scène: Allegro, Tempo di valse, Allegro vivo

### Act IV

- No. 25 Entr'acte: Moderato
- No. 26 Scène: Allegro non troppo
- No. 27 _Dance of the Little Swans_: Moderato
- No. 28 Scène: Allegro agitato, Molto meno mosso, Allegro vivace
- No. 29 Scène finale: Andante, Allegro, Alla breve, Moderato e maestoso, Moderato

## Infobox (ballet)

- **name**: Swan Lake
- **image**: Swanlakedecor.jpg
- **image alt**: Black-and-white sketch of a scene at the edge of a lake. Two men dressed in formal period costume watching as a line of female ballerinas are dancing out of a stone arch.
- **image size**: 250px
- **caption**: Act 2 set design, Moscow 1877
- **choreographer**: Julius Reisinger
- **composer**: Tchaikovsky
- **librettist**: Vladimir Petrovich Begitchev
Vasily Geltzer
- **based on**: Germany, German fairy tale
- **premiere**: 4 March 1877
- **place**: Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow
- **ballet company**: Bolshoi Ballet
- **characters**: Odette
Prince Siegfried
Queen Mother
Von Rothbart
Odile
- **designer**: Karl Valts (Acts 2 & 4)
Ivan Shangin (Act 1)
Karl Groppius (Act 3)
- **setting**: Germany
Fairy tale times
- **created for**: Pauline Karpakova and the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow
- **genre**: Fairy tale
- **type**: Romantic ballet