Swan Lake

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Ballets by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
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Swan Lake (Russian: Лебединое Озеро, Lebedinoye Ozero) is a ballet, first presented in four acts, Opus 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The scenario was worked out by Vladimir Begichev and Vasiliy Geltser, fashioned from Russican folk tales^[1] and an ancient German legend, which tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (opus 20), composed 1875-1876. The ballet received its premiere on February 27, 1877 at the Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow as The Lake of the Swans. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on January 15, 1895 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. For this revival, Tchaikovsky's score was revised by the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre's chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Composition History 1.3 Performance history 1.3.1 Original Production of 1877 1.3.2 Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux 1877 1.3.3 Subsequent productions 1879-1894 1.3.4 Petipa-Ivanov-Drigo revival of 1895 1.3.5 Later productions 2 Instrumentation 3 Roles 4 Synopsis 5 Structure 6 Adaptations 7 Discography 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

Many critics have disputed the original source of the Swan Lake story. The Russian ballet patriarch Fyodor Lopukhov has called Swan Lake a "national ballet" due to its swans who originate from Russian lyrically romantic sources, while many of the movements of the corps de ballet originated from Slavonic ring-dances.^[2] According to Lopukhov, "both the plot of Swan Lake (despite the fact that it is based on German source), the image of the Swan and the very idea of a faithful love are essentially Russian"^[2]. The libretto is based on a story by the German author Johann Karl August Musäus Der geraubte Schleier "The Stolen Veil"^[3], however this story provides only the general outline of the plot of Swan Lake. The Russian folktale The White Duck also bears some resemblance to the story of the ballet and might have been another possible source. The contemporaries of Tchaikovsky recalled the composer taking great interest in the life story of Ludwig II, the Bavarian King and Count of Rheinland–Pfalz, the tragic life of whom had allegedly been marked by the sign of Swan and who – either consciously or not - was chosen as the prototype of the dreamer Prince Siegfried^[2].

[edit] Composition History

The origins of the ballet Swan Lake are rather obscured, and since there are very few records concerning the first production of the work to have survived, there can be only speculation about who was the author of the original libretto. The most authoritative theory appears to be that it was written by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, director of the Moscow Imperial Theatres during the time that the ballet was originally produced, and possibly Vasily Geltser, Danseur of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. However, Geltser was in all probability merely the first person to copy the scenario for publication, as a surviving copy bears his name. Since the first published libretto of the ballet and the actual music composed by Tchaikovsky do not correspond in many places, we may conjecture that the first actual published libretto was possibly crafted by a newspaper writer who had viewed the initial rehearsals, as new productions of operas and ballets were always reported in the newspapers of Imperial Russia, along with their respective scenarios.

According to two of Tchaikovsky's relatives - his nephew Yuri Lvovich Davydov and his niece Anna Meck-Davydov - the composer had earlier created a little ballet called The Lake of the Swans at their home in 1871. This ballet featured the famous leitmotif known as the Swan's Theme (or Song of the Swans ). Begichev commissioned the score of Swan Lake from Tchaikovsky in 1875 for a rather modest fee of 800 rubles, and soon Begichev began to choose artists that would participate in the creation of the ballet. The choreographer assigned to the production was the Czech Julius Reisinger (1827-1892), who had been engaged as balletmaster to the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre (today known as the Bolshoi Ballet) since 1873. It is not known what sort of collaborative processes were involved between Tchaikovsky and Reisinger. Tchaikovsky likely had some form of instruction in composing Swan Lake, as he had to know what sort of dances would be required. But unlike the instructions that Tchaikovsky received for the scores of The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, no such written instruction is known to have survived.

Swan Lake was the first ballet set to the score of a symphonic composer. From around the time of the turn of the 19th century until the beginning of the 1890s, scores for ballets were almost always written by composers known as "specialists" - composers who were highly skilled at scoring the light, decorative, melodious, and rhythmically clear music that was at that time in vogue for ballet. Tchaikovsky studied the music of these "specialists", such as the Italian Cesare Pugni and the Czechoslovakian Léon Minkus, before setting to work on Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky had a rather negative opinion of the "specialist" ballet music until he studied it in detail, being impressed by the nearly limitless variety of infectious melodies their scores contained. Tchaikovsky most admired the ballet music of such composers as Léo Delibes, Adolphe Adam, and later, Riccardo Drigo. He would later write to his protégé, the composer Sergei Taneyev - "I listened to the Delibes ballet 'Sylvia'...what charm, what elegance, what wealth of melody, rhythm, and harmony. I was ashamed, for if I had known of this music then, I would not have written 'Swan Lake'". Tchaikovsky most admired Adam's 1844 score for Giselle, which featured the use of the technique known as leitmotif - associating certain themes with certain characters or moods, a technique he would use in Swan Lake, and later, The Sleeping Beauty.

Tchaikovsky drew on previous compositions in for his Swan Lake score. He made use of material from The Voyevoda, an opera that he had abandoned in 1868. The Grand Adagio (AKA the Love Duet) from the second scene of Swan Lake was fashioned from an aria from that opera, as was the Waltz of the Prospective Fiancées from the third scene. Another number which included a theme from The Voyevoda was the Entr'acte of the fourth scene. By April of 1876 the score was complete, and rehearsals began. Soon Reisinger began setting certain numbers aside that he dubbed "unsuitable for ballet." Reisinger even began choreographing dances to other composers' music, but Tchaikovsky protested, and his pieces were reinstated.

Tchaikovsky's score for Swan Lake is orchestrated for a full complement of strings, piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four French horns, two cornets, two trumpets, three trombones, a tuba, a set of timpani drums, a triangle, a tambourine, castanets, a snare drum, cymbals, a bass drum, a gong, a glockenspiel, and a harp.

[edit] Performance history

Moscow Premiere (World Premiere)

• Date: 4 March (O.S. 20 February), 1877
• Place: Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow
• Balletmaster: Julius Reisinger
• Conductor: Stepan Ryabov
• Scene Designers: Karl Valts (Acts 2 & 4), Ivan Shangin (Act 1), Karl Groppius (Act 3)

St. Petersburg Premiere

• Date: 15 January 1895
• Place: Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
• Balletmaster: Marius Petipa (Acts 1 & 3), Lev Ivanov (Acts 2 & 4)
• Conductor: Riccardo Drigo
• Scene Designers: Ivan Andreyev, Mikhail Bocharov, Henrich Levogt
• Costume Designer: Yevgeny Ponomaryov

Other Notable Productions

• 1880 and 1882, Moscow, Bolshoy Theatre, staged by Joseph Hansen after Reisinger, conductor and designers as in premiere
• 1901, Moscow, Bolshoy Theatre, staged by Aleksandr Gorsky, conducted by Andrey Arends, scenes by Aleksandr Golovin (Act 1), Konstantin Korovin (Acts 2 & 4), N. Klodt (Act 3)
• 1911, London, Ballets Russes, Sergey Dyagilev production, choreography by Mikhail Fokin after Petipa-Ivanov, scenes by Golovin and Korovin

Original Interpreters

Role	Moscow 1877	Moscow 1880	St. Petersburg 1895	Moscow 1901	London 1911
Princess	Nikolayeva		Giuseppina Cecchetti
Siegfried	A. Gillert	Alfred Bekefi	Pavel Gerdt	Mikhail Mordkin	Vatslav Nizhinsky
Benno	Nikitin		Aleksandr Oblakov
Wolfgang			Gillert
Odette	Pelageya Karpakova	Yevdokiya Kalmїkova	Pierina Legnani	Adelaide Giuri	Matilda Kshesinskaya
Von Rothbart	S. Sokolov		Aleksey Bulgakov	K. Kubakin
Odile	***		Pierina Legnani		Matilda Kshesinskaya

[edit] Original Production of 1877

The premiere of Swan Lake on March 4, 1877, was given as a benefit performance for the ballerina Pelageya Karpakova (also known as Polina Karpakova), who created the role of Odette, with the Bolshoy Theatre's Premiere Danseur Victor Gillert as Prince Siegfried. Karpakova likely also danced the part Odile, although it is not known for certain.

The Russian ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya - for whom the original (1877) role of Odette was intended - was pulled from the premiere performance when a governing official in Moscow complained about her, stating that she had accepted several pieces of expensive jewelry from him, only to then marry a fellow danseur and sell the pieces for cash. Sobeshchanskaya was replaced by Pelageya Karpakova who danced the role of the Swan Queen until the former was reinstated by Petipa.

The premiere was not well-received, with near unanimous criticism concerning the dancers, orchestra, and décor. Unfortunately Tchaikovsky's masterful score was lost in the debacle of the poor production, and though there were a few critics who recognized its virtues, most considered it to be far too complicated for ballet. Most of the critics were not themselves familiar with ballet or music but rather with spoken melodrama. Critics considered Tchaikovsky's music "too noisy, too 'Wagnerian' and too symphonic"^[4]. The critics also found fault with Reisinger's choreography which they thought was "unimaginative and altogether unmemorable"^[4].

The production was unsuccessful due to several reasons. The German origins of the story of Swan Lake were "treated with suspicion while the tale itself was regarded as 'stupid' with unpronouncable surnames for its characters"^[4]. The dancer of Odette (and probably Odile though this has never been proved for certain) was a secondary soloist and "not particularly convincing"^[4].

"The poverty of the production, meaning the décor and costumes, the absence of outstanding performers, the Balletmaster'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."

—Modest Tchaikovsky, brother of the composer

[edit] Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux 1877

In spite of the poor reaction to the premiere, the ballet nevertheless continued being performed. On April 26, 1877 the prima ballerina of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre Anna Sobeshchanskaya made her début as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and from the start she was completely dissatisfied with the production of the ballet, but most of all with Reisinger's choreography and Tchaikovsky's music. Sobeshchanskaya travelled to St. Petersburg to have Marius Petipa, Maître de Ballet en Chef of the Imperial Ballet, choreograph a new Pas de Deux to replace the Grand Pas de Six, which functioned as the ballet's Grand Pas. For a Ballerina to request from a Balletmaster a supplemental Grand Pas or additional variation was standard practice in 19th century ballet, and often these "custom-made" dances quite literally became the legal property of the Ballerina they were created for. Petipa fashioned Sobeshchanskaya's Pas de Deux to the specially composed music of Léon Minkus - a standard Pas de Deux Classique which consisted of a short Entrée, the Grand Adagio, a variation for the Danseur, a variation for the Ballerina, and a Coda.

Word of this change soon found its way to Tchaikovsky, who became very angry. Eventually, Tchaikovsky agreed to compose a Pas that would correspond precisely to Minkus' music, fitting the new choreography. In doing so, Tchaikovsky merely re-scored most of Minkus' music, with slight melodic and harmonic modifications. Sobeshchanskaya was so pleased with Tchaikovsky's new version of the Minkus music that she requested he compose for her an additional variation, which he did.

Until 1953 this Pas de Deux was thought to be lost, until an accidentally discovered repétitéur was found in the archives of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre among the orchestral parts used for Alexander Gorsky's 1912 revival of Le Corsaire. In 1960 George Balanchine choreographed a Pas de Deux to this music for the Ballerina Violette Verdy, and the Danseur Conrad Ludlow under the title Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux,^[5] as it is still known and performed today.

[edit] Subsequent productions 1879-1894

Julius Reisinger left Moscow in 1879, and his successor as Balletmaster was Joseph Peter Hansen. Hansen, made considerable efforts throughout the late 1870s/early 1880s to salvage Swan Lake, and on January 13, 1880 he presented a new production of the ballet for his own benefit performance. The part of Odette/Odile was danced by Evdokia Kalmykova, a student of the Moscow Imperial Ballet School, with Alfred Bekefi as Prince Siegfried. This production was far more well-received than the original, though it was by no means a great success. Hansen presented another version of Swan Lake on October 28, 1882, again with Kalmykova as Odette/Odile. For this production Hansen arranged a Grand Pas for the ballroom scene which he titled La Cosmopolitana. This was taken from the European section of the Grand Pas d'action known as The Allegory of the Continents from Marius Petipa's 1875 ballet The Bandits to the music of Ludwig Minkus. Hansen's version of Swan Lake was given only four times, the final performance being on January 2, 1883, and soon the ballet was dropped from the repertory altogether.

In all, Swan Lake was given a total of forty-one performances between its premiere and the final performance of 1883 - a rather lengthy run for a ballet that was so poorly received upon its premiere. Hansen would go on to become Balletmaster to the Alhambra Theatre in London, and on December 1, 1884 he presented a one-act ballet titled The Swans, which was inspired by the second scene of Swan Lake. The music was composed by the Alhambra Theatre's chef d'orchestre Georges Jacoby.

The second scene of Swan Lake was then presented on February 21, 1888 in Prague by the Ballet of the National Theatre in a version mounted by the Balletmaster August Berger. The ballet was given during two concerts which were conducted by Tchaikovsky. The composer noted in his diary that he experienced "a moment of absolute happiness" when the ballet was performed. Berger's production followed the 1877 libretto, though the names of Prince Siegfried and Benno were changed to Jaroslav and Zdenek, with the role of Benno danced by a female dancer en travestie. The role of Prince Siegfried was danced by Berger himself with the Ballerina Giulietta Paltriniera-Bergrova as Odette. Berger's production was only given eight performances, and was even planned for production at the Fantasia Garden in Moscow in 1893, but it never materialized.

[edit] Petipa-Ivanov-Drigo revival of 1895

Main article: Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo revival of Swan Lake

Pavel Gerdt as Prince Siegfried (Mariinsky Theatre, 1895).

Pierina Legnani as Odette (1895).

Ivanov's 1895 choreography for the Dance of the Little Swans.

During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Pepita and Vsevolozhsky considered reviving Swan Lake and were in talks with Tchaikovsky about doing so. However, Tchaikovsky died on November 6, 1893, just when plans to revive Swan Lake were beginning to come to fruition. It remains uncertain whether Tchaikovsky was even going to revise the music for the prospected revival of Swan Lake. Whatever the case, as a result of Tchaikovsky's death, Drigo was forced to revise the score himself, but not before receiving approval from Modeste. There are major differences between Drigo's Swan Lake score and Tchaikovsky's score. (Today, it is Riccardo Drigo's revision of Tchaikovsky's score as done for Petipa and Ivanov's 1895 revival, and not Tchaikovsky's original score of 1877, that many - though by no means all - ballet companies use when performing Swan Lake.)

In February 1894, two memorial concerts planned by Vsevolozhsky were given in honor of Tchaikovsky. The production included the second scene of Swan Lake, choreographed Lev Ivanov, Second Balletmaster to the Imperial Ballet. Ivanov's choreography for the memorial concert was unanimously hailed as wonderful.

The Ballerina who danced Odette was the Italian virtuosa Pierina Legnani, and it was because of her great talent that the prospected revival of Swan Lake was planned for her benefit performance in the 1894-1895 season. Her performance demonstrated her phenomenal technique, climaxing in no less than thirty two fouettés en tournant (the most ever performed) during the grand pas. The dazzled public roared with demands for an encore, and the Ballerina repeated her variation, this time performing twenty eight fouettés en tournant.

However, the death of Tsar Alexander III on November 1, 1894 and the period of official mourning which followed it brought all ballet performances and rehearsals to a close for some time, and as a result all efforts were able to be concentrated on the pre-production of the revival of Swan Lake. Ivanov and Petipa chose to collaborate on the production, with Ivanov retaining his dances for the second scene while choreographing the fourth, and with Petipa staging the first and third scenes.

Tchaikovsky's brother Modeste was called upon to make the required changes to the ballet's libretto, the most prominent being his revision of the ballet's finale - instead of the lovers simply drowning at the hand of the wicked Von Rothbart as in the original 1877 scenario, Odette commits suicide by drowning herself, with Prince Siegfried choosing to die as well, rather than live without her, and soon the lovers' spirits are reunited in an apotheosis. Aside from the revision of the libretto the ballet was changed from four acts to three - with Act II becoming Act I-Scene 2, Act III becoming Act II, and Act IV becoming Act III.

All was ready by the beginning of 1895, and the ballet had its premiere on January 15. Pierina Legnani danced Odette/Odile, with Pavel Gerdt as Prince Siegfried, Alexei Bulgakov as Von Rothbart, and Alexander Oblakov as Benno.

The premiere of the Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo was quite a success, though not as much of one as it has been in modern times. Most of the reviews in the St. Petersburg newspapers were positive.

Unlike the premiere of The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake did not dominate the repertory of the Mariinsky Theatre in its first season. It was given only sixteen performances between the premiere and the 1895-1896 season, and was not performed at all in 1897. Even more surprising, the ballet was performed only four times in 1898 and 1899. The ballet belonged solely to Legnani until she left St. Petersburg for her native Italy in 1901. After her departure, the ballet was taken over by Mathilde Kschessinskaya, who was as much celebrated in the role as was her Italian predecessor.

[edit] Later productions

See also: List of major productions of Swan Lake derived from its 1895 revival

Throughout the long and complex performance history of Swan Lake the 1895 edition of Petipa, Ivanov, and Drigo has served as the version from which many stagings have been based. Nearly every balletmaster or choreographer who has re-staged Swan Lake has sought to make modifications to the ballet's scenario, while still maintaining to a considerable extent the traditional choreography for the dances, which is regarded as virtually sacrosanct. Likewise, over time the role of Siegfried has become far more prominent, due largely to the evolution of ballet technique.

Several notable productions have diverged from the original and its 1895 revival:

• Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, for instance, departed from the traditional ballet by replacing the female corps de ballet with male dancers. Since its inception in 1995, Matthew Bourne's production has never been off the stage, somewhere in the world, for more than a few months. It has toured the United Kingdom and returned to London several times. It has been performed on extended tours in Greece, Israel, Turkey, Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States, in addition to the United Kingdom.

• The 2000 American Ballet Theatre version (taped for television in 2005), rather than having the curtain down as the slow introduction is played, used this music to accompany a new prologue in which the audience is shown for the first time how Von Rothbart first transforms Odette into a swan. Von Rothbart in this production is played by two dancers - one appears as a handsome young man who is easily able to lure Odette in the new prologue, and the other dancer is covered in sinister "monster makeup" which reveals the magician's true self. About half-an-hour of the complete score is omitted from this production.

• Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake, first performed in 2002, which was loosely based on the breakdown of the marriage of Princess Diana to Prince Charles and his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles combined roles of Von Rothbart and Odile into that of a Baroness, and the focus of the story is a love triangle.^[6]

[edit] Instrumentation

• Strings: Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses
• Woodwinds: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (C, B-flat, A), 2 Bassoons
• Brass: 4 Horns (F), 2 Cornets (A, B-flat), 2 Trumpets (F, D, E), 3 Trombones, Tuba
• Percussion: Timpani, Triangle, Tambourine, Castanets, Military Drum, Cymbals, Bass Drum, Tam-tam, Glockenspiel
• Other: Harp

[edit] Roles

• The Sovereign Princess
• Prince Siegfried, her son
• Wolfgang, his tutor
• Benno von Sommerstern, the Prince's friend
• Odette, a good fairy
• von Rothbart, an evil genius, by appearance a guest
• Odile, his daughter, resembling Odette
• Master of ceremonies
• Spanish, Hungarian, Polish, Neapolitan and Russian (this one occasional) Princesses.
• Baron von Stein
• The Baroness, his wife
• Freiherr von Schwarzfels
• His wife
• A herald
• A footman
• Court gentlemen and ladies, friends of the prince, heralds, guests, pages, villagers, servants, swans, cygnets

Note: By 1895 Benno von Sommerstern became just "Benno", and Odette "Queen of the Swans". Also Baron von Stein, his wife, and Freiherr von Schwarzfels and his wife were no longer identified on the program. The sovereign or ruling Princess is often rendered "Queen Mother". Rothbart ("Redbeard") may also be spelled Rotbart.

[edit] Synopsis

Swan Lake is generally presented in either four Acts, four Scenes (primarily outside Russia and Eastern Europe) or three Acts, four Scenes (primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe).

Act 1 - A magnificent park before a castle.

Swan Lake begins at a royal court. Prince Siegfried, heir to the kingdom, must declare a wife at his birthday ball. Upset that he cannot marry for love, Siegfried escapes into the forest at night. As he sees a flock of swans flying overhead, he sets off in pursuit.

Act 2 - A mountainous wild place, surrounded by forest. In the distance a lake, on the right side of which are ruins. A moonlit night.

Siegfried aims his crossbow at the swans and readies himself for their landing by the lakeside. When one comes into view, however, he stops. Before him is a beautiful creature dressed in white feathers, more woman than swan. Enamoured, the two dance and Siegfried learns that the swan maiden is the princess Odette. An evil sorcerer, von Rothbart, captured her and used his magic to turn Odette into a swan by day and woman by night.

A retinue of other captured swan-maidens attend Odette in the environs of Swan Lake, which was formed by the tears of her parents when she was kidnapped by von Rothbart. Once Siegfried knows her story, he takes great pity on her and falls in love. As he begins to swear his love to her - an act that will render the sorcerer's spell powerless - von Rothbart appears. Siegfried threatens to kill him but Odette intercedes. If von Rothbart dies before the spell is broken, it can never be undone.

Act 3 - An opulent hall in the castle.

The Prince returns to the castle to attend the ball. Von Rothbart arrives in disguise with his own daughter Odile, making her seem identical to Odette in all respects except that she wears black while Odette wears white. The prince mistakes her for Odette, dances with her, and proclaims to the court that he intends to make her his wife. Only a moment too late, Siegfried sees the real Odette and realizes his mistake. The method in which Odette appears varies: in some versions she arrives at the castle, while in other versions von Rothbart shows Siegfried a magical vision of her.

Act 4 - Same scene by the lake as in Act 2.

Realizing that the spell can never be broken, Odette and Siegfried drown themselves by leaping into the lake. This causes von Rothbart to lose his power over them, and he dies as a result.

Note: Many different endings exist, ranging from romantic to tragic:

• In a version which has an ending very close to the original danced by American Ballet Theatre in 2005, Siegfried's mistaken pledge of fidelity to Odile consigns Odette to eternal swanhood. Realizing that her last moment of humanity is at hand, Odette commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake. The Prince does so as well. This act of sacrifice and love breaks von Rothbart's power, and he is destroyed. In the final tableau, the lovers are seen rising together to heaven in apotheosis.
• In a version danced by the Mariinsky Ballet in 2006, the true love between Siegfried and Odette defeats von Rothbart, who dies after the prince breaks one of his wings. Odette is restored to human form to unite happily with the prince. This version has often been used by Russian and Chinese ballet companies.
• In a version danced by New York City Ballet in 2006 (with choreography by Peter Martins after Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa, and George Balanchine), the Prince's declaration that he wishes to marry Odile constitutes a betrayal that condemns Odette to remain a swan forever. Odette is called away into swan form, and Siegfried is left alone in grief as the curtain falls.

[edit] Structure

The score used in this comparison is Tchaikovsky's score,^[7] which may be different from Drigo's score, which is commonly 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

Act 1

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. Variation: Allegro semplice, Presto

IV. Variation: Moderato

V. Variation: 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)

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: Russian Dance for Mlle. Pelageya Karpakova: Moderato, Andante semplice, Allegro vivo, Presto

No. 21 Spanish Dance: Allegro non troppo (Tempo di bolero)

No. 22 Neopolitan/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

[edit] Adaptations

Animation

• Swan Lake (1981): A feature-length anime produced by the Japanese company Toei Animation and directed by Koro Yabuki. The adaptation uses Tchaikovsky's score and remains relatively faithful to the story. Two separate English dubs were made, one featuring regular voice actors, and one using celebrities as the main principles (Pam Dawber as Odette, Christopher Atkins as Siegfried, Kay Lenz as Odille, and David Hemmings as Rothbart). The second dub aired on The Disney Channel in the early 1990s.^[8] It is presently distributed in France and the United Kingdom by Rouge Citron Production.
• Barbie of Swan Lake (2003): A direct-to-video children's movie featuring motion capture from the New York City Ballet. Some character's names do not correspond with those in the ballet.
• Princess Tutu (2003) an anime, alludes frequently to Swan Lake. The heroine, "Duck" is described by other characters as the "white swan" (Odette) while her rival, "Rue", is called a "black swan" (Odile). Furthermore, the name of the Prince (revealed at the end of the series) is Siegfried, paralleling the prince of Swan Lake. Episode 13 of the series is entitled Swan Lake ~Schwanensee~ and the score prominently features selections of Tchaikovsky's music.
• The Swan Princess, (1994) a popular Nest Entertainment film, based on the Swan Lake story, stays fairly close to the original story, apart from the addition of loyal sidekicks Puffin, Speed and Jean-Bob, and the fact that Prince Siegfried becomes Prince Derek. The Swan Princess has two sequels, The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain and The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom.Features none of Tchaikovsky's music.

Film

• Dracula (1931) This classic Bela Lugosi film features an excerpt from the Swan Lake score over the opening credits. The Mummy with Boris Karloff also features the same excerpt over the opening credits.
• Ed Wood (1994) This film about movie maker Ed D. Wood, Jr. was scored by Howard Shore. Shore sampled the Swan Lake Swan theme every time Bela Lugosi's character (played by Martin Landau) threatened to commit suicide, as reference to the 1931 film.
• Billy Elliot (2000) The ballet that the now-adult Billy performs in in the final scene is Matthew Bourne's version of "Swan Lake" where all the Swans are played by men. Billy plays the part of the Swan.

Games

• The graphic adventure game Loom, published in 1990 by Lucasfilm Games, borrowed story elements from the ballet, and also featured excerpts from Tchaikovsky's score in its soundtrack.

Ice Shows

• The Imperial Ice Stars have staged an figure skating production which uses Tchaikovsky's score called Swan Lake on Ice. It began touring in 2006 and is set to end its tour in 2008.^[9]

Literature

• The Black Swan (1999): A fantasy novel written by Mercedes Lackey that re-imagines the original story and focuses heavily on Odile. Von Rothbart's daughter is a sorceress in her own right who comes to sympathize with Odette.
• Swan Lake (1989): A children's novel written by Mark Helprin and illustrated by Chris van Allsburg, which re-creates the original story as a tale about political strife in an unnamed-Eastern European country. In it, Odette becomes a princess hidden from birth by the puppetmaster (and eventually usurper) behind the throne, with the story being retold to her child.

Musicals

• Odette - The Dark Side of Swan Lake, a musical written by Alexander S. Bermange and Murray Woodfield, was staged at the Bridewell Theatre, London in October 2007.
• Billy Elliot the Musical (2005-Present) has a swan lake scene in Act II where grown up Billy and young Billy dance together.

Television

• In the Japanese tokusatsu show Kamen Rider Den-O, the main protagonist has the ability to take different forms, based on the imagin that possess him. One of the imagin, known as Sieg, is analogous to the legend of Swan Lake, as it acts very princely when possessing Ryoutarou. Its Den-O form, known as the Wing Form, possesses a swan motif on the face plate. The henshin also appears as if a swan alighted on Den-O's mask.

[edit] Discography

Audio

• 1982, John Lanchbery (conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• 1988, Yevgeniy Svetlanov (conductor), Russian State Symphony Orchestra
• 1990, Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra

Video

• 1966, John Lanchbery (conductor), Wiener Symphoniker, Ballet of the Wiener Staatsoper, Rudolf Nureyev (Siegfried), Margot Fonteyn (Odette)
• 1968, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, Yelena Yevteyeva, John Markovsky, Makhmud Esambayev
• 1983, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoy Ballet, Aleksandr Bogatirev, Natalya Bessmertnova
• 1990, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, Igor Zelensky (Siegfried), Yuliya Makhalina (Odette)
• 2002, Michel Queval (conductor), Orchestra and Ballet of the Royal Opera of Stockholm, Anders Nordström (Siegfried), Nathalie Nordquist (Odette)
• 2004, James Tuggle (conductor), Scala de Milan, Roberto Bolle (Siegfried), Svetlana Zakharova (Odette)
• 2005, Jonathan Darlington (conductor), Opéra de Paris, Patrick Dupond (Siegfried), Marie-Claude Pietragalla (Odette)
• 2005, Ormsby Wilkins (conductor), American Ballet Theater, Angel Corella (Siegfried), Gillian Murphy (Odette)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Background

• Swan Lake: From Planning to Performance at the Royal Opera House, about the Royal Ballet's production of 'Swan Lake'
• Rudolf Nureyev's choreography of Swan Lake

Video recordings of the ballet:

• Swan Lake (2005) Murphy and Corella (ABT)
• Lebedinoe ozero (Swan Lake) at the Internet Movie Database (1957)
• Schwanensee at the Internet Movie Database (1967)
• Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at the Internet Movie Database (1996)
• The Ballet Soloist (aka Russian Ballerina) - 1947 Soviet musical film with scenes from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. With subtitles in Esperanto.

v • d • e Ballets by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Swan Lake, Op. 20 · Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 · The Nutcracker, Op. 71 List of compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky