In March 2022, without our mentioning it, the 145th anniversary of the premiere of Swan Lake was completed. The work that composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was fully involved in creating, but which was a failure initially, has now become one of the most popular ballets of all time.
Inspired by Russian and German folk tales about the princess transformed into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse, Swan Lake is a romantic and moving work and was a project commissioned by the Bolshoi Ballet, at the time led by choreographer Julius Reisinger. It was the first ballet written by Tchaikovsky, who overcame his initial prejudice, even though he was a fan of the works of Léo Delibes in Sylvia and Adolphe Adam in Giselle, both using the Leitmotif technique, which is to associate certain themes with certain characters or climate. The composer used leitmotifs in both Swan Lake and, later, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. The famous swan theme, which opens the second act, is a leitmotif, for example.
Not all music was written directly for the work. Tchaikovsky also used old, unfinished pieces to create his score for Swan Lake, including his version of the story that had been staged in his home with his nephews and which already included the swan theme. He also used material from unfinished operas such as The Voyevoda and Undina.
However, the beauty and richness of the music was not enough for the original choreographer, who found it difficult as a complicated score to be used in steps. Boos, unanimous criticism traumatized the composer and shelved this masterpiece for years. It was after Tchaikovsky’s death that Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov created his version, for the Imperial Ballet (today Mariinsky) and it is this production that has served as the basis for all versions until today.
The “ultimate” version premiered on January 15, 1895, and Tchaikovsky, who initially had a greater attachment to the music of this ballet, never knew how right he was. Even though, after listening to Sylvia‘s music, he suggested that he would never be able to come close to Léo Delibes‘ work. We passionate about the “Lake”, we disagree, of course.
Dancing the roles of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake completes the process of transforming ballerinas into prima ballerinas, and there are several renowned interpretations of the role. Subject for another post!
A step into the world of Tchaikovsky’s ballets: Swan Lake
Ask anyone who claims to know nothing about ballet to actually name one, the chances are it will be one of Tchaikovsky’s. Swan Lake is classical ballet for many, while hundreds were introduced to the art form as children viaThe Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky was the first great composer to write for the ballet and the first whose ballet music came to be appreciated away from the stage and in the concert hall.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lakewas the first of Tchaikovsky’s ballets. It premiered at the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877, although it wasn’t the immediate hit we might imagine it to be – that came later with the 1895 revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.
Mariinsky set for Act 2 of Swan Lake, 1895
© Wikicommons
After a few attempts to revive it, Swan Lake was eventually dropped from the repertory. During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Petipa and Vsevolozhsky considered reviving the ballet and were in talks with Tchaikovsky about doing so. However, Tchaikovsky died on 6 November 1893, just when their plans were beginning to come to fruition.
Interest in the ballet revived in February 1894 when Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani danced Odette/Odile in two memorial concerts in memory of Tchaikovsky, whipping out thirty-two fouettés (the most ever performed at that time) during the grand pas.
The dazzled public roared with demands for an encore, and she repeated her variation, this time performing twenty-eight fouettés. Sadly, the Tsar Alexander III died later that year and all ballet performances at the time were halted.
In the meantime, Petipa and Lev Ivanov decided to collaborate on a revival of Swan Lake for the Imperial Ballet, Ivanov re-choreographing Acts 2 and 4, while Petipa set the first and third acts. Modest Tchaikovsky, the composer’s brother, made changes to the ballet’s libretto to become the scenario we know today and Riccardo Drigo revised the score himself, particularly Act 4, but not before receiving approval from Modest. Swan Lake never looked back.