Swan Lake (1876) But dawn breaks and the spell turns her and her companions back into swans. Then Von Rothbart arrives in disguise [Scène: Allegro, Allegro giusto] with his enchantress daughter, Odile, transformed so that she appears identical to Odette in all respects. It was in these locations that he wrote the Second and Third Symphonies, and Swan Lake. Out of all the characters in the ballet, Siegfried is the only one to appear on all four acts. Nevertheless – and this is not often recorded- this production survived in the repertoire for six years and had 41 performances, more than many of the other ballets in the Bolshoi repertoire. Only 4 left in stock - order soon. There are also some productions where Odette and Odile are danced by two different ballerinas. Don Henley - Boys Of Summer Vocal cover by dead faeries. This ballet featured the famous Leitmotif known as the Swan’s Theme (or Song of the Swans ). In all, Swan Lake was given a total of forty-one performances between its première and the final performance of 1883 — a rather lengthy run for a ballet that was so poorly received upon its premiere. 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. But before he can shoot it, the swan transforms into the most beautiful girl he has ever seen: Princess Odette, the Queen of the Swans. No rehearsal material or performance score survives. The reason for Rothbart’s curse upon Odette is unknown; several versions, including two feature films, have suggested reasons, but none is typically explained by the ballet. Adam’s 1844 Giselle, still one of the most celebrated in the repertoire, was Tchaikovsky’s favourite ballet. Unfortunately Tchaikovsky’s masterful score was lost in the debacle of the poor production, and though there were a few critics who recognised its virtues, most considered it to be far too complicated for ballet. Siegfried returns to the lake and finds Odette. Two swans, implied to be the lovers, are then seen flying past the Moon. 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 15 January 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. As of April 2011, the Royal Ballet have performed Swan Lake 946 times. The première of Swan Lake on Friday, 4 March 1877, was given as a benefit performance for the ballerina Pelageya Karpakova (also known as Polina Karpakova), who performed the role of Odette, with the Bolshoi Theatre’s Première danseur Victor Gillert as Prince Siegfried. The second scene of Swan Lake was then presented on 21 February in Prague by the Ballet of the National Theatre in a version mounted by the Balletmaster August Berger. Really. The composer noted in his diary that he experienced “a moment of absolute happiness” when the ballet was performed. It remains uncertain whether Tchaikovsky was even going to revise the music for the prospected revival of Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Theme Instrumental cover by Agnieszka Kurcaba. He has lost all his evil powers and dies. It was performed at the country estate of Tchaikovsky’s sister Alexandra Davydova at Kamenka (in Ukraine). We also know that before setting to work, Tchaikovsky studied the music of ‘specialist’ ballet composers like Cesare Pugni (1802-70) and Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) whose light, rhythmic, melodious but vapid works were in great demand. Siegfried breaks his crossbow and declares his eternal love for Odette. The Swan Lake ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. But it was not until after Tchaikovsky’s death that Swan Lake achieved the success it deserved in a revised version of the score by Riccardo Drigo (1846-1930), the Italian composer, conductor and long-serving Director of Music of the Imperial Ballet of St Petersburg. The spell can only be broken if one who has never loved before swears to love Odette forever. Rothbart and Siegfried struggle. He invites her to attend a Ball at his castle and promises to choose her as his bride, but everything takes a turn for the worst. Karpakova likely also danced the part Odile, although it is not known for certain. Rather than live forever as a swan, Odette chooses to die. One example is the Bolshoi Ballet’s version, where he is portrayed as a sadistic schemer and plays a wicked game of fate with Siegfried, which he wins at the end, causing Siegfried to lose everything. One theory has it that Reisinger provided the libretto, another says that it was Vladimir Begichev, director of the Moscow Imperial Theatres, in collaboration with the dancer Vasily Geltser. Various changes to the libretto were made (see above) and the four acts became three (Act 2 became Act 1 scene 2). When he promises not to harm her, she tells him that she is the Swan Queen Odette. Sobeshchanskaya was replaced by Pelageya Karpakova who danced the rôle of the Swan Queen until the former was reinstated by Petipa. Required fields are marked *. The production included the second Act of Swan Lake, choreographed by Lev Ivanov, Second Balletmaster to the Imperial Ballet. Get the latest classical news straight to your inbox! Von Rothbart suddenly appears [Scène. (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.). The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on 4 March [O.S. In spite of the poor reaction to the première, the ballet nevertheless continued to be performed. Title Лебединое озеро Composer Tchaikovsky, Pyotr: Opus/Catalogue Number Op./Cat. Do you want to be the first to hear the latest news from the classical world? Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Boris Gruzin. The storm subsides, the moon comes out and a band of swans appear on the tranquil lake. Siegfried breaks his crossbow, and sets about winning Odette’s trust as the two fall in love. Sobeshchanskaya travelled to St. Petersburg to have Marius Petipa—Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres—choreograph a new pas de deux to replace the Pas de six that functioned as the third act’s Grand Pas. $23.08. There is also uncertainty about who provided the libretto for the ballet. She is a swan … Yet with all this, the premiere of Swan Lake on Friday 4 March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, was something of a fiasco. The adaption follows the original, but some parts like the pas de deux was not possible to perform in Second Life and has been changed. His human form is seen only in the third act with his daughter Odile, when she dances with the Prince Siegfried. One final point. Her performance demonstrated her phenomenal technique, climaxing in her variation from the final tableau no fewer than thirty-two fouettés en tournant (the most ever performed at that time) during the grand pas. All parts are played by individual avatars. But there was a more special version for the Chapultepec Lake in Mexico City -that was repeated in the Lenin’s Park Amphitheater in Havana (1983 or 1984 I think)- that was the most impressive performance I’ve seen. Swan Lake is one of the most popular of all classical ballets, and the first of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets (the others being The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker) that opened a golden age of Russian ballet. Glazunov - Raymonda / Bolshoi Ballet, Ludmila Semenyaka, Irek Moukhamedov Irek Mukhamedov. The Grand adage (a.k.a. Rothbart gives Siegfried Odile’s hand and then shows him a magical vision of Odette. The ballet's content is based on a Russian folktale, and over the course of two acts, tells the story of a princess turned into a swan. Follow uDiscover Classical on Facebook and Twitter. He arrives at the lakeside clearing, just as a flock of swans land nearby [Scène. 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.”. Odette is restored to human form and she and Siegfried are happily united. This, the graceful ‘Waltz’ from Act 1, and the delightful ‘Dance Of The Cygnets’ from Act 2, are the best-known musical highlights of this great score. Though the original composition of Swan Lake was initially received negatively, with audiences and critics claiming that the music was too complex to be a ballet piece, currently the work is seen as one of Tchaikovsky’s most valuable, and surged him into the realm of the most important ballet composers. Rothbart is rarely seen in human form, as he appears as a giant owl in the second and fourth acts. 19a and 20a). Several notable productions have diverged from the original and its 1895 revival: Swan Lake is scored for the typical late 19th-century large orchestra: By 1895 Benno von Sommerstern had become just “Benno”, and Odette “Queen of the Swans”. In February 1894, two memorial concerts planned by Vsevolozhsky were given in honor of Tchaikovsky. Hansen would go on to become Balletmaster to the Alhambra Theatre in London, and on 1 December 1884, he presented a one-act ballet titled The Swans, which was inspired by the second scene of Swan Lake. Swan Lake - Ballet Suite, Op. Tchaikovsky’s younger brother Modest 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. She forgives him, but explains that she has chosen to die so she can escape Rothbart’s spell. But as dawn arrives, the evil spell draws Odette and her companions back to the lake and they are turned into swans again. Tchaikovsky’s mention of a draft suggests the presence of some sort of abstract but no such draft has ever been seen. The Russian folktale “The White Duck” also bears some resemblance to the story of the ballet, and may have been another possible source. Though the princesses try to attract the prince with their dances [Pas de six], Siegfried, mistaking Odile for Odette, has eyes only for her and dances with Odile. Having seen more than 55 years of ballet and very very many Swan Lakes , I now vote for the happy endings. When his mother, the Queen tells him he must soon marry, he refuses because he has not yet found a woman of his preference. 4.3 out of 5 stars 48. In the 1986 version Rudolf Nureyev choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet, Rothbart fights with Siegfried, who is overcome and dies, leaving Rothbart to take Odette triumphantly up to the heavens. Swan Lake is one of the most popular of all classical ballets, and the first of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets (the others being The Sleeping Beauty and … Our recommended recording of Swan Lake, featured on Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, can be bought here. The Prince does so as well. $29.99. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse. 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). The score was finally completed in April 1876. Benno tries to lift his friend’s mood and when Siegfried sees a flock of swans fly overhead, he suggests they go hunting them. Prince Siegfried, a handsome Prince who falls in love with Odette Swan Lake (ballet), Op.20 (Tchaikovsky, Pyotr) For the concert suite extracted from the ballet, see Swan Lake (suite), Op.20a. Rothbart (“Redbeard”) may also be spelled Rotbart. Swan Lake (Russian: Лебединое озеро / Lebedinoye ozero), Op. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse. When Siegfried and Odette make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their love by throwing themselves into the lake, Rothbart’s powers are overcome and he is destroyed. Swan Lake is about a prince named Siegfried. This breaks Von Rothbart’s spell over the swan maidens, causing him to lose his power over them and he dies. In light of this, Tchaikovsky agreed to compose a pas that would correspond to Minkus’ music to such a degree that the ballerina would not even be required to rehearse. According to Lopukhov, “both the plot of Swan Lake, the image of the Swan and the very idea of a faithful love are essentially Russian”. Swan Lake, the British premiere. Respectively, he created scores of the first three numbers of the ballet, then the orchestration in the fall and winter, and was still struggling with the instrumentation in the spring. Your email address will not be published. Night falls. In 2014 the Little Princess Ballet Academy (LPBA) performed the entire Swan Lake in Second Life. Wine flows, Wolfgang flirts, everyone dances. Sleeping Beauty (1889) Rothbart is a powerful sorcerer who casts a spell on Odette that turns her into a swan every day and returns her to human form at night. The first of Tchaikovsky's great ballet scores, Swan Lake has been enshrined in the public's imagination as the classical ballet non pareil. At first, she is terrified of Siegfried. The conductor was incapable of doing justice to so complex a score, the scenery and choreography were second-rate and, to cap it all, the brilliant ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya, for whom the main role of Odette had been intended, was removed after a senior official in Moscow accused her of agreeing to marry him, taking all the jewels she received as gifts, selling them, and then running off with a fellow dancer. Tchaikovsky [Tchaikowski, Tchaikowskij, Tchaikovsky, Chakowski, Cajkovskij], Pyotr Ilyich [Pëtr Il'ic] Kamsko-Votkinsk 1840 - St. Petersburg 1893 ... Swan Lake, Op. Best Blue Note Album Covers: 20 Groundbreaking Artworks, The Women of Stax: Five Unheralded Pioneers, Up To 11: The Songs That Inspired Heavy Metal, The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ Documentary: Everything You Need To Know. Odette is distraught at Siegfried’s betrayal. His letters to Sergei Taneyev from August 1875 indicate, however, that it was not only his excitement that compelled him to create it so quickly but his wish to finish it as soon as possible, so as to allow him to start on an opera. 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. Pudelek, Janina. Von Rothbart’s daughter Odile is danced by the same ballerina; this facilitates the scene in which Odile, disguised as Odette, tricks Prince Siegfried into being unfaithful. Russian culture has always drawn heavily on fairy tales but the two or three often cited as possible sources for Swan Lake bear little resemblance to the story that is danced on stage. The spell can only be broken by someone who has never loved before and swears to love Odette forever. The première was not well-received, with near unanimous criticism concerning the dancers, orchestra, and décor. Unwilling to live without her, Siegfried chooses to die with Odette and the lovers throw themselves into the lake, reuniting in death for all eternity. Hansen presented another version of Swan Lake on 28 October 1882, again with Kalmykova as Odette/Odile. Most of the critics were not themselves familiar with ballet or music but rather with spoken melodrama. It’s a relief! However, what is most usually seen today is a revised version of the score with choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov which premiered at St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre on 27 January 1895, two years after Tchaikovsky’s death. The titles of numbers in French (italic type) and Russian (Cyrillic) are taken from the published score, with English translations added in bold type.A complete performance of Swan Lake lasts around 140 minutes. When Reisinger began choreographing after the score was completed, he demanded some changes from Tchaikovsky. Frederick Ashton’s 1987 version has seen the most revivals by the company. Moderato]. In a version which has an ending very close to the 1895 Mariinsky revival, danced by American Ballet Theatre in 2005, Siegfried’s mistaken pledge of fidelity to Odile consigns Odette to remain a swan forever. However, Tchaikovsky died on 6 November 1893, just when plans to revive Swan Lake were beginning to come to fruition. The swan maidens appear in the clearing. [Scène: Allegro, Tempo di valse, Allegro vivo] Odette appears as a vision and vainly tries to warn Siegfried that he is being deceived. His favourite hobby is hunting, so to end his birthday celebrations, he and Benno head into the forest on a hunting expedition with their companions. It is not known what sort of collaborative processes were involved between Tchaikovsky and Reisinger. 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 materialised. Op.20a ; TH 219 I-Catalogue Number I-Cat. 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. In the second American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, he is portrayed by two dancers. Odette, comforted by her swan maidens, is distraught. Tchaikovsky studied the music of these “specialists”, such as the Italian Cesare Pugni and the Austrian Ludwig Minkus, before setting to work on Swan Lake. She tells him her story, explaining that she is under a spell of the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart. 20, is a ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Download and print in PDF or MIDI free sheet music for Swan Lake (Ballet), Op.20 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky arranged by willdsc for Piano (Solo) 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. Siegfried chooses to die with her and, falling into his arms, they vanish beneath the waters (or, in some productions, rise to the heavens in an apotheosis). The two composers whose ballet music he most admired were French: Adolphe Adam and Leo Delibes. In an apotheosis, the swan maidens watch as Siegfried and Odette ascend into the Heavens together, forever united in love. The libretto is based on a story by the German author Johann Karl August Musäus, “Der geraubte Schleier” (The Stolen Veil), though this story provides only the general outline of the plot of Swan Lake. The score as listed here is different from the score as revised by Riccardo Drigo for the revival of Petipa and Ivanov that is still used to one extent or another by most ballet companies today. Canadian metal band The Agonist has made an a cappella version of Act II’s “, A close arrangement of this piece features in episodes 16 and 23 of, 1954, Antal Doráti (conductor), Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (first complete recording, late 1953, mastered originally in mono only; some mock-stereo issues released on LP), 1959, Ernest Ansermet (conductor), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, taped in stereo Oct–Nov., 1958, abridged, 1974, Anatole Fistoulari (conductor), Radio Filharmonisch Orkest with Ruggiero Ricci, violin, 1976, André Previn (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra, with Ida Haendel, violin, 1982, John Lanchbery (conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra, 1988, Yevgeny Svetlanov (conductor), Russian State Symphony Orchestra, 1990, Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra, 1992, Charles Dutoit (conductor), Montreal Symphony Orchestra, 2006, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, 1966, John Lanchbery (conductor), Vienna State Opera Ballet, Rudolf Nureyev (Siegfried), Margot Fonteyn (Odette / Odile), 1968, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, John Markovsky (Siegfried), Yelena Yevteyeva (Odette / Odile), 1976, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Alexander Bogatirev (Siegfried), Maya Plisetskaya (Odette / Odile), 1980, Ashley Lawrence (conductor), The Royal Ballet, Anthony Dowell (Siegfried), Natalia Makarova (Odette / Odile), 1984, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Alexander Bogatirev (Siegfried), Natalia Bessmertnova (Odette / Odile), 1986, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, Konstantin Zaklinsky (Siegfried), Galina Mezentseva (Odette / Odile), 1988, Graham Bond (conductor), English National Ballet, Peter Schaufuss (Siegfried), Evelyn Hart (Odette / Odile), 1989, Algis Zhuraitis (conductor), Bolshoi Ballet, Yuri Vasyuchenko (Siegfried), Alla Mikhalchenko (Odette / Odile), 1990, Viktor Fedotov (conductor), Kirov Ballet, Igor Zelensky (Siegfried), Yuliya Makhalina (Odette / Odile), 1992, Alexander Sotnikov (conductor), Perm Theatre Ballet, Alexei Fadeyechev (Siegfried), Nina Ananiashvili (Odette / Odile), 1992, Jonathan Darlington (conductor), Paris Opera Ballet, Patrick Dupond (Siegfried), Marie-Claude Pietragalla (Odette / Odile), 1996, Michel Quéval (conductor), Royal Swedish Ballet, Anders Nordström (Siegfried), Nathalie Nordquist (Odette / Odile), 1998, Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Berlin State Ballet, Oliver Matz (Siegfried), Steffi Scherzer (Odette / Odile), 2004, James Tuggle (conductor), La Scala Theatre Ballet, Roberto Bolle (Siegfried), Svetlana Zakharova (Odette / Odile), 2005, Ormsby Wilkins (conductor), American Ballet Theatre, Angel Corella (Siegfried), Gillian Murphy (Odette / Odile), 2006, Vello Pahn (conductor), Paris Opera Ballet, Jose Martinez (Siegfried), Agnes Letestu (Odette / Odile), 2007, Valery Gergiev (conductor), Mariinsky Ballet, Danila Korsuntsev (Siegfried), Ulyana Lopatkina (Odette / Odile), 2009, Valeriy Ovsyanikov (conductor), The Royal Ballet, Thiago Soares (Siegfried), Marianela Núñez (Odette / Odile), 2009, Vladimir Fedoseyev (conductor), Zurich Ballet, Stanislav Jermakov (Siegfried), Polina Semionova (Odette / Odile), Nuzzo, Nancy B.