The greatest of
ballets
1, music of
Tchaikovsky, and
choreography by
Marius Petipa and
Lev Ivanov, first performed at full length in
St Petersburg on 17 February 1895. Tchaikovsky was dead by then and it was based on an earlier, smaller-scale work, which premiered on 4 March 1877.
It concerns a prince, called Siegfried2, who falls in love with a swan. Or to be more precise, he falls in love with a princess, called Odette, who is in human form at night, but has been turned into a swan by day by the evil magician Von Rothbart. She has a great many other swan-maidens to attend her. I forget what they used to be. Anyway, the prince sees her dancing in a moonlight glade by the lake and forgets to shoot her, falling in love instead. And she with him.
The Swan Lake was formed by the tears of Princess Odette's parents when Von Rothbart kidnapped her. When he appears and Siegfried threatens to kill him, Odette intercedes. Only when someone sacrifices their life for the Swan Queen will his power be destroyed.
The spell on her may be broken if a prince pledges eternal fidelity to her. Alas, Von Rothbart insinuates his own daughter Odile into the court, making her seem identical to Odette. The prince dances with her, and proclaims to the court that he wants to make her his wife.
At that moment the real Odette appears outside at the window amid the most crashing, tragic, surging music of the ballet. Prince Siegfried realizing his mistake flees the castle to follow Odette. She disappears into the lake, and he pursues her there. Unable to be wed in life, they are united in death. Von Rothbart and his power and his castle fall, the Swan Maidens are free and human, and dance homage to the souls of the lovers.
A single dancer dances Odette/Odile, which is one of the most taxing of all roles because it requires acting two entirely contrasting characters, as well of course as the strenuous showpiece dancing itself, including thirty-two fouettés. The great Pierina Legnani, first prima ballerina assoluta of the Maryinsky Theatre, created the role. Pavel Gerdt was her Siegfried.
1. Sorry, objections will not be entered: you may call it Duck Soup if that makes you feel better.
2. Chorus of "Shtarker, zis is KAOS, ve do not fall in love viz svans!"