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The plot of the ballet Swan Lake. Swan Lake in the first edition by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Ballet " Swan Lake”was ordered by Tchaikovsky in the spring of 1875 by the directorate of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater. The initiative, apparently, belonged to the then inspector of the repertoire, and later the manager of the imperial theaters in Moscow - V.P. Begichev, who was quite famous in Moscow as a writer, playwright and active public figure. He, together with ballet dancer V.F. Geltser, was also the author of the libretto for Swan Lake.

The first two acts were written by the composer at the end of the summer of 1875, in the spring of 1876 the ballet was completed and fully instrumented, and in the autumn of the same year, the theater was already working on the performance.

The premiere of the performance took place on February 20, 1877 on the stage of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater.

BUT… The first stage performance of "Swan Lake" worthy of Tchaikovsky's music was Petersburg premiere of the ballet, performed in 1895 by M. Petipa and L. Ivanov. Here the choreography for the first time discovered and translated into its own language the wonderful lyrics of Tchaikovsky's work. The 1895 production served as the basis for all subsequent interpretations of the ballet. The image of the swan girl has become one of the classic roles ballet repertoire, attractive and difficult, requiring brilliant virtuosity and subtle lyrical responsiveness from the artist. The Russian choreographic school has put forward many wonderful performers of this role, and among them unsurpassed in spirituality Galina Ulanov.

Characters

Possessing princess
Prince Siegfried - her son
Benno - friend of Siegfried
Wolfgang - Prince's tutor
Odette the swan queen
Von Rothbard - Evil Genius
Odile is his daughter
Master of Ceremonies
Herald
Friends of the prince, gentlemen of the court, lackeys, ladies of the court and pages in the retinue of the princess, settlers, villagers, swans, swans

The plot is based on an old German legend about a beautiful girl turned into a white swan. In four acts of the ballet, real and fantastic scenes alternate. Celebrating his coming of age in the palace park, Prince Siegfried is having fun among friends, but a flock of swans flying over the park beckons him along.

In the forest, on the shore of the lake, among the swan girls, the prince finds Odette, the swan queen with a crown on her head. Conquered by her beauty and shocked by her story of persecution by the evil owner of the lake, Rothbart, Siegfried swears eternal love to Odette.

At a ball in the castle, at the behest of Siegfried's mother, he must choose a bride for himself. However, the prince is indifferent until Odile appears, in which Siegfried sees Odette, and he prefers her. Realizing that he made a fatal mistake, Siegfried runs to the lake and begs Odette for forgiveness, but does not receive it.

Tearing off the crown from Odette's head, Siegfried challenges Rothbart, who personifies the image of fate in the ballet. The prince hopes that the Swan girl will go with him to the world of people. In the fairy tale, the stormy waves of the elements raging on the lake absorb Odette and Siegfried.

Galina Ulanova - "Mona Lisa" of the Russian ballet
Neuschwanstein Castle and Swan Lake

Let's first understand what role the swans play and who they are in the work "Swan Lake.

Plot

There lived a princess, very beautiful girl, and one day an evil wizard bewitched her. But witchcraft was not stable, so during the day the girl was in the body of a swan, and at night, by the light of the moon, witchcraft dissipated and she turned back into a man, into a beautiful girl.
When her mother found out about the fate of her daughter, she cried and cried so long and much that she cried a whole lake. It was on him that the princess settled.
A flock of swans flew to the lake, and they liked it so much that they decided to stay. And the swan princess was not only beautiful in the form of a swan, but also had a beautiful kind soul. The real swans liked the princess so much that they began to call her the Swan Queen.

How many white swans are in the swan lake

If we take as a basis exactly the number of swans on the lake, then in real life on average, this is about 15-20 individuals, although there were fixed moments when the flock consisted of 50 or more units.
How many swans are in the Swan Lake ballet?
If we talk about ballet, then the number of swans in it is limited only by the size of the stage. On the stage at the Bolshoi Theater in the city of Moscow, there are approximately 25 to 30 ballerinas performing extras during the performance. Quite a sufficient number to compare with a real flock. At other sites, their number is smaller, from 9 to 20 people.

In life, despite the fact that swans lay more than one egg, there are not many small swans in a flock, about a third of total individuals.
But in ballet there are only four of them on any stage. Why exactly 4 little swans? Yes, it was so conceived according to the scenario, in which there is a dance scene, and it is called "Dance of the Little Swans". IN classical production 1877, it was four ballerinas who performed to sad music, and all other productions were repelled from this. Although there are examples when there were three or more than four ballerinas on the stage.

Why exactly 4 little swans

Despite all the professionalism of the artists and their ability to dance, it is believed that the dance of the little swans is one of complex elements in ballet. This is due to the fact that all ballerinas must hold hands to perform the same movements, and if one of the participants makes a mistake, a failure occurs. It is much easier to perform this dance only for three ballerinas, when the follower becomes in the center and the extreme dancers perform what the follower allows them to do. But with more than four people, this dance is much more difficult to perform, so the choice of how many swans in the swan lake and in order to avoid mistakes, it was decided to stop at four performers.

PROLOGUE

Ancient park. Princess Odette is sad. Suddenly, a stranger appears, accompanied by a retinue. This is Rothbart the Evil Genius. He proposes marriage to the princess, but Odette rejects him. Rothbart turns her into a white swan.

STEP ONE

Picture one

Garden in front of the castle of the sovereign princess. Prince Siegfried is having fun with his friends: funny dances of the jester are replaced by dances of girls and their gentlemen.

The sovereign princess is interested in which of the girls Siegfried fell in love with. But while the prince is fascinated by a life full of careless entertainment. He can't answer his mother. The sovereign princess retires.

The fun continues. But now it ceases to interest Siegfried. After the cup dance, the prince asks his friends to leave him alone. He is sad. His gaze is attracted by a flying flock of swans. Siegfried takes the crossbow and follows them.

Picture two

Lake Shore. The swans lead Siegfried into a dense forest thicket, where the ruins of an old castle rise around a dark lake. His attention is attracted by the beautiful White Swan turning into a girl. This is Princess Odette. She reveals to Siegfried the secret of the spell gravitating over her: an evil wizard turned her into a swan, and only at night, near these rocks, she again becomes a girl. Siegfried is touched by Odette's mournful story and is ready to kill the sorcerer. But this does not dispel evil spells. Only the selfless love of a young man who has never sworn love to anyone can remove the evil spell from her. Siegfried, overcome by a feeling of love for Odette, gives her an oath of eternal fidelity.

The Evil Genius suddenly appears and separates Odette and Siegfried. But Siegfried is confident in the strength and immutability of his feelings: he will free Odette from the power of the sorcerer.

ACT TWO

Picture three

Solemn ball in a luxurious castle. Princesses gather for the feast different countries. Among them, Siegfried must choose his bride. However, he coldly turns away from them: the prince is full of memories of the beautiful Odette.

An unknown guest appears. This is Evil Genius. He came to the ball with his daughter Odile, who bears a striking resemblance to Odette. Odile charms the prince, and Siegfried announces to his mother his decision to marry her. The sorcerer triumphs. Now the oath is broken and Odette will die. With an evil laugh, the Evil Genius points to a magical vision - the quivering image of Odette.

Siegfried realizes that he has been deceived and in desperation rushes to the swan lake.

Picture Four

Lake Shore. Gloomy disturbing night. Odette is shocked: now her hope of release is lost. Siegfried runs in. He did not break the oath: there, in the castle, in Odile, he saw his Odette - his love confession was addressed to her.

The evil genius, in a rage, summons the forces of nature against the lovers: a storm begins, lightning flashes. But now nothing can break the young pure love and separate Odette and Siegfried. Then the Evil Genius himself enters into combat with the prince - and dies. His spell is broken.

Odette turns into a girl and, together with Siegfried, joyfully meets the first rays of the rising sun.

P. I. Tchaikovsky ballet "Swan Lake"

The ballet "Swan Lake" has been captivating the hearts of classical music fans for more than a century. It is considered to be the standard high art, and many world-famous dancers were proud that they had such good luck - to perform a part in this performance. "Swan Lake" without a share of exaggeration can be called the pearl of Russian classics, and P.I. Tchaikovsky - a great composer. The ballet was based on a fairy tale of the knightly era. This is a quivering and beautiful love story filled with many obstacles and trials that lie in wait for young lovers.

Summary of Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" and many interesting facts read about this work on our page.

Characters	Description
Odette	princess turned into a white swan
Siegfried	young prince
Odile	Rothbart's daughter, the black swan
Sovereign Princess	Siegfried's mother
Rothbart	evil wizard
Benno	friend of Prince Siegfried
wolfgang	Siegfried's mentor

Summary

The action of the ballet begins in an ancient castle, during the celebration of the coming of age of the heir to the throne, Siegfried. The plot is imbued with the spirit of the era, this is largely facilitated by the rite of knighting, which means that the heir enters into adult life. But he craves love, and of course there are a sufficient number of beauties among the guests, each of whom would be happy to be next to him. The prince, on the other hand, dreams of a bright feeling and, like a real romantic, cherishes in his soul the image of an ideal lover.

Young Siegfried, thanks to the intervention of Fate itself, is transferred to the shore of a magical lake and gets acquainted with charming girl, the image of which haunted him in dreams and in reality for so long. She turns out to be the Beautiful Swan Odette and the ardent young man immediately confesses his feelings to her and promises to be faithful.

But in vain the heir to the throne rejoices at such good luck, Fate prepares real obstacles for him, preventing their mutual love and testing a wonderful couple with jealousy and betrayal. Turning into a mysterious knight and appearing in the castle of the prince with Odette's double, she forces the young man in love, blinded by emotions, to break all the vows given to his chosen one. But even after going through all the obstacles, the lovers are not destined to be together, no one is able to disrupt the plans of Fate, which hides his beloved from Siegfried, leaving him alone on the shore of a beautiful magical lake.

Photo:

Interesting Facts

This fabulous ballet, incredibly popular these days, literally failed at its first premiere. The deeply upset author said that he would be appreciated, but later and the time of this work is still ahead. This "later" came already 18 years later with brilliant productions by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa.
By the way, have you heard the saying about “the ninth swan in the fifth row”? It denotes an artist who has not achieved success in his career, who is forced to constantly be content with minor roles and crowd.
The roles of Odette and Odile are performed by the same ballerina.
Maya Plisetskaya performed the role of Odette-Odile at the Bolshoi Theater for 30 years.

In 1968 a new variety of white rose was named "Swan Lake"
In his version famous ballet, Matthew Bourne replaced all current ballerinas with male dancers for the first time, which also brought huge success and public interest. This version received a standing ovation in the USA, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Russia, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Korea, Japan, France, Germany and Ireland, and was also awarded more than 30 international awards.
The ballet "Swan Lake" first appeared to the American public at the San Francisco Ballet Theatre.
Graham Murphy's 2002 British production of Swan Lake was based on the controversial breakup between Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
The release of Ivanov and Petipa's production in 1894 was postponed for long time due to the death of the emperor Alexander III and subsequent official mourning.
Literally four years before Tchaikovsky received this order, he had already composed a small ballet "The Lake of Swans" for children, which was performed under the strict guidance of the composer in 1871, at the Kamenka estate.

The work on the performance lasted about a year, and with short breaks due to the fact that the composer also composed the Third Symphony during this period.
Many admirers of Tchaikovsky's work wonder what could inspire him to write such a heartfelt and beautiful music? It is believed that this is the merit of the lake in the Cherkasy region, where swans live. The composer rested there just for several days, admiring the local nature. But in Germany they are sure that the ballet tells about Swan Lake, which is located near the city of Vossen.
Initially, prima Anna Sobeshchanskaya was chosen for the premiere in 1876, but she quarreled strongly with the composer, so this role was offered to Polina Karpakova. As it turned out, the reason for the conflict was that I was not satisfied with the absence of at least one solo dance number in the 3rd act. There is evidence that Sobeshchanskaya even went specially to M. Petipa and asked to insert a solo to his music in this action. If the choreographer complied with her request, the composer flatly refused to insert a piece of music that was not his own. Soon Tchaikovsky offered to settle the conflict and nevertheless wrote her a solo, a little later variations were added to it.
Sour cream premiere"Swan Lake" was very small and amounted to about 6,800 rubles.
The well-known critic Herman Laroche noted after the premiere the music of the ballet, but he called everything related to the dance side “boring and poor”.
In the press, only the work of artist Karl Waltz received praise from journalists, who specially developed technology that provides the illusion of fog using steam.
The researchers suggest that the literary source may lie: the fairy tale "Swan Pond", "The Stolen Veil" by Mazues, as well as an old German legend.
Lev Ivanov, while working on the production of the ballet, rethought the costumes of the dancers, removed the swan wings to free their hands, giving them the opportunity to move. He also owns the already legendary "Dance of the Little Swans" from the second act.

Laurel the best performer parts of Odette belong to Pierina Legnani, who performed all dance moves especially elegant, even 32 fouettes. For the first time in this role, she performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater.
Many residents former USSR remembered this ballet with very disturbing events in the life of the country, because during the August coup that took place in 1991, it was this performance that was broadcast on all television channels.
In everyone's favorite cartoon "Well, you wait!" (Issue 15) shows a parody of the Dance of the Little Swans. At all, classical music can often be heard in
In 1875 P.I. Chaikovsky received a very unexpected order from the directorate of the imperial theaters. They suggested that he take on the "Lake of Swans", but, as a rule, opera composers at that time they hardly worked in the genre of ballet, except for Adana. However, Pyotr Ilyich did not reject this order and decided to try his hand. The composer was offered to work with the script by V. Begichev and V. Geltser. It is noteworthy that it was mainly based on various fairy tales and legends in which there are girls turned into swans. By the way, several decades ago, the imperial troupe already paid attention to this particular plot, and even the “Lake of Sorceresses” was created to order.

Tchaikovsky plunged into the work with his head and approached every step very responsibly. The composer had to study completely the dances, their sequence, and also what kind of music should be written for them. He even had to study several ballets in detail in order to clearly understand the composition and structure. Only after all this he was able to start writing music. As for the score, in the ballet "Swan Lake" two imaginative worlds are revealed - fantastic and real, however, sometimes the boundaries between them are erased. The most tender theme of Odette runs like a red thread through the whole work.

Literally a year later, the score of the ballet was ready, and he began orchestrating. Thus, by the autumn of 1876, work had already begun on the production of the play, which was entrusted to V. Reisinger. By that time, he had already worked for several years as the choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater. Here are just a lot of his work, starting in 1873, failed.

The film is based on a ballet performed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater and as in classical program consists of two acts and four scenes.

Act I

Painting 1

Ancient German castle. Coming of age holiday for the only son - Prince Siegfried. Friends and courtiers came to the feast. Chief Executive holiday, the prince's mother is the Sovereign Princess. At the feast, the prince is knighted. Now his life is determined by valor and duty.
It is getting dark, the feast is coming to an end, toasts are heard in honor of the prince, his peers demand attention, but the prince himself is in thought, he wants ideal, pure love. The guests leave, leaving the prince alone in his thoughts in the coming night. A shadow appears and the prince understands that this is his Fate, but she has the image of the Evil Genius. Fate reveals secrets to the young man and beckons him. Some kind of premonition haunts and Siegfried leaves for the world of dreams.

Picture 2

Fascinated by fate, the prince finds himself on the shore of a night lake. In the glare of the water, a vision of beautiful girls in the form of swans appears in front of him, and in the center is the most beautiful of them - the Queen of Swans, Odette. Siegfried is fascinated by her beauty and freezes. The prince is shocked and understands that he sees his ideal in the image of Odette. He falls in love with the swan princess, confesses his love and swears allegiance.

Act II

Scene 3

The sovereign princess, mother of Siegfried, invites brides to the castle and wants to find a life partner for her son. She puts the prince before choosing a bride and wants him to enter into a marriage alliance with her. But Siegfried is absorbed in memories of the swan princess, behind which lies the beautiful Odette. He dances with girls, but shows no interest in them, no one fits the image of his ideal.
A new guest appears in the castle, a rather strange knight, with a companion of amazing beauty, they are accompanied by four black swans. In the companion of the knight, Siegfried sees Odette, but in fact this is her double. The prince, without suspecting anything, rushes to the girl and loses his head. And the Evil Genius is only on hand and he experiences feelings young man. Odette's double is actually Odile, who enchants the prince with a game and Siegfried calls her his chosen one. In the castle hall, in front of numerous guests, the prince swears a fatal oath of love and fidelity. But the whole hall is plunged into darkness and the image of the real Odette appears. Siegfried realizes late that he has been deceived and tries to rush after the image of the real chosen one.

Scene 4

All Swan Lake is immersed in the news of the violation of the prince's oath. Siegfried comes ashore with a request for a petition, and Odette forgives him. But Fate is inexorable and now the young man has no power over her.
The Evil Genius rejoices at the victory and sends a storm onto the lake, which separates the lovers, but the prince struggles with the villain with his last strength. In the end, the image of the beautiful Odette disappears in the first rays of the sun, and the prince finds himself alone on the shores of Swan Lake.

swan lake end

Before the gaze of Prince Siegfried Swan Lake. The ending of the film-ballet is dramatic. Deceived by Fate, the young man lost his beloved and only dreams and memories remained with him for life. What happened to Odette? She stayed that way for the rest of her life. beautiful swan, the queen of swans.