The first production of Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky. Swan Lake (fragments, description). How many white swans are in the swan lake

Swan Lake ballet"

The history of the creation of the ballet "Swan Lake".

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Votkinsk. From early childhood, Peter was drawn to the piano, at which he spent his leisure time. In 1845, he began to learn to play the piano, after only 3 years he already knew how to read music, and a year later he played the piano perfectly. At the end of the course of sciences in 1859, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky entered the service of the department of the Ministry of Justice, but he did not like bureaucratic service. A year later, Tchaikovsky entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which opened, where he studies "in the composition class" with Anton Rubinstein.

At first, Tchaikovsky's successes were modest. But hard work paid off. Many beautiful works were born, for example, operas: Iolanthe and The Queen of Spades, ballets The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, many symphonies and suites, concert and piano works.

Swan Lake was a different story. First, Swan Lake was the first ballet created by Tchaikovsky. Secondly, as Tchaikovsky himself admitted to N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Pyotr Ilyich wrote this work partly because of the money he then needed. Thus, a well-known composer in Russia undertakes to write his first ballet. The libretto was written by V. Geltser and V. Begichev. In 1876, the opera Swan Lake was presented for the first time. But the first performance was unsuccessful. But 20 years later, in 1895, a brilliant renewal of the ballet took place on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Modest Tchaikovsky remade the libretto, and the conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo made some changes to the score. But first of all, Swan Lake owes its triumph to two choreographers - Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa. In Petipa-Ivanov's choreography there is a comprehensive jubilation of the holiday and the romantic split of the world, the idyll of the first act and the fatal break of the second, the purity of the love adagio and the demonic virtuosity of Odile. It is a symbol of ideal, but tragic love, embodied in the image of Odette. A unique phenomenon of Russian artistic culture, Swan Lake collected and absorbed the legacy of the ballet of the 19th century and largely determined the development of the ballet art of the 20th century.

The plot of the opera "Swan Lake".

Action one.

The castle celebrates the coming-of-age day of the young Prince Siegfried. Mother, courtiers, friends congratulate him. Guests are entertained by a jester. Siegfried's mother gives her son a crossbow. She reminds the prince that it is time for him to choose a bride. The feast is over, the guests disperse. Siegfried is left alone. He is tormented by vague forebodings, disturbed by vague dreams. A flock of swans appears in the sky, and the prince, carried away by a sudden spiritual outburst, hurries after them to the lake.

Action two.

Siegfried finds himself in the night forest, on the shore of the lake. The swans land on the shore and turn into beautiful young girls. The prince, enchanted by their beauty, involuntarily lowers his crossbow. The swan queen Odette tells the prince that they are all under the spell of the evil wizard Rothbart. Only the power of love can overcome his sorcery. Siegfried swears eternal love and fidelity to her, but Odette warns him: if he does not keep his oath, then the swan girls will forever remain in the power of Rothbart. It's getting light. Swans swim on the surface of the lake. Odette and Siegfried say goodbye.

Action three.

The castle is again filled with guests: today the young prince must choose his bride. Noble beauties from different countries came to the ball, but Siegfried remains indifferent - none of them can compare with the memories of Odette. Fanfares inform the audience about the arrival of new guests - this is a noble knight and his beautiful companion. This is the magician Rothbart himself and his daughter Odile, who is unusually similar to Odette. Odile charms the prince, deceived by the resemblance. He calls her his chosen one. Rothbart triumphs: the prince has broken his oath of allegiance, and now the swans will forever remain under his spell. The picture of a lake appears for a moment in front of the amazed prince, and he rushes after the elusive phantom of the opera. Shore. Lake. Night. Odette tells her friends about the broken vow. Now the swan girls are forever doomed to remain in witchcraft captivity. Siegfried, tormented by remorse, appears and begs Odette for forgiveness; the swan queen forgives him. The prince enters into single combat with Rothbart, and the power of human love overcomes the witchcraft of an evil genius, giving the heroes freedom and happiness.

Musical dramaturgy.

The demonic virtuosity of Odile. It is a symbol of ideal, but tragic love, embodied in the image of Odette . New for the Russian ballet was the image of Prince Siegfried. For the first time in Russian ballet, a male image (and not just a dance) of a hero was created, going through trials, suffering, challenging fate and fighting for his love. Thanks to the orchestra, it was possible to feel who is a good character and who is evil. During the dance of Odette and Siegfried there was a love tune, but with slightly sad undertones of the tune. During the performance of Rothbart's dance, a somewhat insidious, cunning melody sounded. And during the final battle between Siegfried and Rothbart, tension was first felt, and then a pleasant feeling of the victory of good over evil.

The meaning of "Swan Lake" in history.

"Swan Lake" outlined the border between two eras in the history of ballet art - the outgoing century of the romantic "grand ballet" and the new era of symphonizing ballet, saturating it with a through musical plot development. In essence, Tchaikovsky transformed the traditional "divertimento" ballet, transforming this genre with the skill of a mature symphonic composer; Petipa and Ivanov created a choreographic interpretation of this work, both preserving some of the features of the tradition of romantic ballet and giving it a new look. A unique phenomenon of Russian artistic culture, Swan Lake collected and absorbed the legacy of the ballet of the 19th century and largely determined the development of the ballet art of the 20th century.

swan chaikovsky lake ballet

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Swan Lake is perhaps the most famous ballet in the world to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Not only music, but also choreography has long been considered a universally recognized masterpiece of world ballet, one of the brightest achievements of Russian culture. And the White Swan will forever remain a symbol of Russian ballet, a symbol of its beauty and grandeur.

The premiere of the ballet, with which its glorious history began, took place on January 15, 1895 at the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. But few people know that this was not the first production of Swan Lake.

ACT ONE

Painting 1

In a clearing near the castle, Prince Siegfried is celebrating his coming of age with his friends. The fun of friends is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Prince's mother, the Sovereign Princess. She gives her son a crossbow and reminds him that childhood has passed, and tomorrow, at the ball, he will have to choose a bride for himself. After the departure of the Sovereign Princess, the fun and dancing continues. A flock of swans in the sky attracts the attention of Prince Siegfried: why not end this lucky day with a glorious hunt?

Picture 2

Lake in the forest

Fascinated by hunting, Prince Siegfried goes to a forest lake, along which a flock of white swans swims. Ahead of all is a bird with a crown on its head. The Prince takes aim... But, struck by the amazing beauty of the Queen of Swans, Odette, lowers the crossbow. She tells the Prince about her terrible fate: the Evil Sorcerer, Rothbart, has bewitched her and the girls subject to her. He guards them in the form of an owl, only at night allowing them to turn from swans into girls. The terrible spell can only be broken by the one who loves her with all his heart and vows eternal love. Odette disappears, and the Prince, amazed by the story of this girl, rushes after her.

The swan girls come out to the shore of the lake. Enchanted by their dancing, the Prince vows to deliver them from the power of the evil sorcerer. He sees Odette and swears his love for her. Tomorrow, at the ball, he will make his choice: Odette will become his wife. The Swan Queen warns the Prince: if the oath is not kept, Odette and all the girls will forever remain under the evil spell of Rothbart. It's getting light. The girls turn into swans and swim away. The happiness of the lovers is overshadowed by the appearance of an owl, who overheard their conversation. He will do everything to destroy their hopes!

ACT TWO

Court ball at Prince Siegfried's castle. In vain do beautiful girls try to captivate Prince Siegfried with their dances: his heart belongs only to the beautiful Swan Queen. However, obeying the command of his mother, he is equally kind to all guests. The Sovereign Princess demands that the Prince choose a bride for himself from the applicants who came to the ball. But the Prince is adamant: he is waiting for his only one, Odette.

Suddenly, the trumpets announce the arrival of new guests. Siegfried looks forward to Odette's arrival. However, like a bolt from the blue, Rothbart appears in the guise of a noble knight and his daughter, Odile. The prince is confused: this beauty is unusually similar to Odette! Bewitched by Odile, Siegfried rushes after her. The dancing begins. It is the turn of Siegfried and Odile. Oh, how she looks like Odette! With her seductive and seductive dances, she fascinates and captivates the Prince. He can't take his eyes off her. Suddenly, a white swan appears in the window - this is Odette trying to warn her lover. But to no avail - he is so passionate about Odile!

Rothbart's insidious goal is fulfilled - Odile completely captivated the Prince. He does not have time to come to his senses and makes a choice: from now on, Odile is his bride! At the request of Rothbart, he gives his chosen one an oath of eternal love. The sorcerer triumphs: Siegfried has broken his oath, which means nothing can break his spell anymore! Having reached his goal, Rothbart and his treacherous daughter disappear. General confusion. Coming to his senses and realizing all the horror of the deception of which he became a victim, Siegfried rushes to the lake, to Odette.

ACT THREE

On the shore of the lake, the girls anxiously await their queen. Odette appears with the sad news of Rothbart's treachery and Siegfried's betrayal. The Prince appears. He begs Odette to forgive him, because he took an oath, deceived by the similarity of the girls. Odette forgives him, but it's too late: nothing can break the spell of the evil sorcerer. Rothbart appears. With all his might, he tries to separate the lovers. And he almost succeeds: he grabs Odette in his deadly embrace. Tortured by the owl, Odette falls to the ground exhausted. Siegfried enters into single combat with Rothbart. Love gives strength to the Prince - he almost defeats the sorcerer. Odette and Siegfried pledge eternal love to each other. The power of love kills Rothbart! He is defeated! The spell of the Evil Sorcerer has come to an end!

Swans and Odette turn into girls! Odette and Prince Siegfried hurry towards their Love and their Happiness! The rays of the rising sun bring Life, Love and Good to the world!

"Swan Lake" ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in two acts and four acts.
Libretto - Vladimir Begichev.

Prologue.

Moonlit night, a lake, the beautiful Princess Odette is walking along the shore. Suddenly, the shadow of a huge bird covers the moonlight. The evil wizard, Rothbart, rejected by Odette, casts an evil spell on the girl, Odette turns into a white swan. Only a prince who has fallen in love with Odette and keeping the oath of eternal allegiance.

Act one
Picture one

In the distance one can see the Siegfried family castle, a lawn, a river, a bridge, on the veranda the youth of the court celebrates the prince's coming of age, cheerful dances and laughter, jester's dances. the prince must choose a bride. The fun subsides, the pensive prince sees a flock of swans and remembers his mother's gift.

Picture two

The shore of the lake, the prince follows the swans that have arrived for the night. Taking up the crossbow, Siegfried takes aim at the swan and suddenly a flash of light appears Odette. Begging for mercy, she tells the story of the witchcraft of the Evil genius Rothbart. Odette, promises to destroy the evil spell of the sorcerer. The rest of the swans, turning into beauties, go ashore and dance for the prince. In a fit of love, Siegfried swears an oath of eternal fidelity to Odette, but the Evil genius Rothbart, hiding in the ruins, overhears the conversation.

Action twoPicture three

The castle, the ball in honor of the prince, brides gather for the prince, but Siegfried informs the mother, the possessing princess, that he will not make a choice. All the prince's thoughts are about the beautiful Odette. The magician Rothbart appears at the ball, with his daughter Odette. fascinated and invites Odile to dance, a beautiful swan is beating in the window, but the prince sees nothing. Mother Declares Odile, the bride of the prince, the evil wizard makes Zigfid swear an oath of love and fidelity. Thunder, lightning, the light fades, the prince sees Odette in the window and understands insidious deception of the Evil Genius, but the evil happened, Rothbert triumphs and disappears from the ball. In desperation, the prince runs to the shore of the swan lake.

Picture Four

The shore of the lake, the prince is looking for Odette, he is in disarray, at dawn the girl must die from the spell of Rothbert. Siegfried begs for forgiveness, he understood the mistake, swearing an oath to Odette, he thought and saw Odile. The girl forgives him, but witchcraft does not work, The evil genius enjoys the suffering of lovers, he wants to destroy the prince. the prince fights in a deadly battle with Rothbart, he is ready to die for his beloved. Odette comes to the aid of the prince, the fight between good and evil is over, nothing can defeat true love. The spell falls, the magic is destroyed, the white swan turns into a girl.

Epilogue

Dawn, Siegfried and Odette meet the sunrise. Good triumphs, love conquers any witchcraft, Evil genius is defeated.

Act IPainting 1 Prince Siegfried's coming-of-age day is celebrated in an old German castle. He is congratulated by friends, courtiers and his mother - the Sovereign Princess. And then solemnly knighted. From now on, his life will be determined by duty and valor. The last toasts are heard in his honor, the girls are looking for his attention, but Siegfried's soul is worried about other feelings, he dreams of pure, ideal love. The feast subsides, the guests retire and leave the prince alone with his thoughts. Night. He feels a shadow next to him. It is Fate itself in the form of an Evil Wizard. He wants to test the Prince. Siegfried rushes into the ideal world of his dreams... Picture 2 The prince finds himself on the shore of a fantastic lake. Enchanted swan girls appear in front of him in the glare of water. He sees Odette, the most beautiful of them all. He swears love and fidelity to Odette. Act IIScene 3 Noble brides come to the castle of the Sovereign Princess. The prince must choose one of them. Siegfried appears, in love with Odette. He dances indifferently with the girls. No one can match his ideal. Suddenly, a strange knight arrives at the ball. In fact, this is the Wizard. He came with his companion. This is the black swan Odile, the double of Odette. Siegfried thinks it is Odette and goes after her. The Evil Wizard experiences the prince's feelings. Siegfried calls Odile his bride and swears his love. At the moment of the fatal oath of the courts, it plunges into darkness. Outside the window appears a vision of the real Odette. Siegfried realizes that he has become a toy in the hands of Fate. Hoping to atone for betrayal, he desperately rushes after the image of the white swan. Scene 4 Anxious night on the lake of swans. Odette brings tragic news: the prince has broken his oath. There is confusion in Siegfried's soul, he hurries to Odette with a plea for forgiveness. She forgives the young man, but from now on she has no power over her fate. The Evil Wizard causes a storm, she scattered Siegfried and Odette, it is impossible for them to connect. Siegfried is unable to keep the disappearing Odette. With the first rays of dawn, he is left alone on a deserted shore, by the lake of his dreams.

Libretto- summary (literary description of pantomime)

Pantomime - expression of the plot by movement.

Plot - the content of a story, book, opera, ballet, painting, performance.

Overture - an introduction to an opera or ballet.

Intermission - a break in the performance.

Musical numbers of "Swan Lake":

Overture

Theme of tragic love

Dance of the Little Swans

spanish dance

In four acts. Libretto by V. Begichev and V. Geltser.

Characters:

• Odette, the swan queen (good fairy)
• Odile, daughter of an evil genius who looks like Odette
• Possessing princess
• Prince Siegfried, her son
• Benno von Sommerstern, friend of the prince
• Wolfgang, Prince's tutor
• Knight Rothbart, an evil genius disguised as a guest
• Baron von Stein
• Baroness, his wife
• Baron von Schwarzfels
• Baroness, his wife
• Master of Ceremonies
• Herald
• Skorokhod
• Friends of the prince, gentlemen of the court, ladies and pages in the retinue of the princess, lackeys, settlers, villagers, servants, swans and swans

The action takes place in a fairy-tale land in fairy-tale times.

History of creation

In 1875, the directorate of the imperial theaters turned to Tchaikovsky with an unusual order. He was asked to write the ballet "Lake of Swans". This order was unusual because previously "serious" composers of ballet music did not write. The only exceptions were works in this genre by Adana and Delibes. Against the expectations of many, Tchaikovsky accepted the order. The scenario offered to him by V. Begichev (1838-1891) and V. Geltser (1840-1908) was based on the motifs of fairy tales found among different peoples about bewitched girls turned into swans. Curiously, four years earlier, in 1871, the composer had written a one-act ballet for children called The Lake of the Swans, so he may have had the idea of ​​using this very plot in the big ballet. The theme of all-conquering love, triumphing even over death, was close to him: by that time, the symphonic overture-fantasy Romeo and Juliet had already appeared in his creative portfolio, and the following year, after turning to Swan Lake (this was how the ballet in final version), but even before its completion, Francesca da Rimini was created.

The composer approached the order very responsibly. According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, “before writing the ballet, he sought for a long time who to contact in order to obtain accurate data on the music necessary for dancing. He even asked ... what should he do with the dances, what should be their length, score, etc.” Tchaikovsky carefully studied various ballet scores in order to understand "this kind of composition in detail." Only then did he start writing. At the end of the summer of 1875, the first two acts were written, and at the beginning of winter, the last two. In the spring of the following year, the composer orchestrated what he had written and completed work on the score. In autumn, the theater was already working on a production of the ballet. It began to be carried out by V. Reisinger (1827-1892), invited to Moscow in 1873 to the post of choreographer of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater. Unfortunately, he turned out to be an unimportant director. His ballets throughout 1873-1875 invariably failed, and when in 1877 another of his performances appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater - the premiere of Swan Lake took place on February 20 (March 4, according to a new style) - this event went unnoticed. Actually, from the point of view of balletomanes, this was not an event: the performance was unsuccessful and left the stage eight years later.

The true birth of Tchaikovsky's first ballet took place more than twenty years later, after the composer's death. The directorate of the imperial theaters was going to stage Swan Lake in the 1893-1894 season. The Directorate had at its disposal two excellent choreographers - the venerable Marius Petipa (1818-1910), who had been working in St. Petipa, who staged mainly small ballets and divertissements on the stages of the Mariinsky, Kamennoostrovsky and Krasnoselsky theaters. Ivanov was remarkable for his amazing musicality and brilliant memory. He was a real nugget, some researchers call him the "soul of Russian ballet." A student of Petipa, Ivanov gave the work of his teacher even greater depth and a purely Russian character. However, he could create his choreographic compositions only to beautiful music. His best achievements include, in addition to the scenes of "Swan Lake", "Polovtsian Dances" in "Prince Igor" and "Hungarian Rhapsody" to the music of Liszt.

The script for the new production of the ballet was developed by Petipa himself. In the spring of 1893, his joint work with Tchaikovsky began, interrupted by the untimely death of the composer. Shaken both by Tchaikovsky's death and by his personal losses, Petipa fell ill. At the evening dedicated to the memory of Tchaikovsky and held on February 17, 1894, among other numbers, the 2nd scene of "Swan Lake" staged by Ivanov was performed.

With this production, Ivanov opened a new page in the history of Russian choreography and gained fame as a great artist. Until now, some troupes stage it as a separate independent work. “... Lev Ivanov's discoveries in Swan Lake are a brilliant breakthrough into the 20th century,” writes V. Krasovskaya. Highly appreciating Ivanov's choreographic findings, Petipa entrusted him with the swan scenes. In addition, Ivanov staged Czardas and the Venetian dance to the music of the Neapolitan (subsequently released). After recovering, Petipa finished the production with his characteristic skill. Unfortunately, a new plot twist - a happy ending instead of the originally conceived tragic one - proposed by Modest Tchaikovsky, brother and librettist of some of the composer's operas, led to the relative failure of the finale.

On January 15, 1895, the premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, which gave a long life to Swan Lake. Ballet throughout the 20th century was performed on many stages in various versions. His choreography absorbed the ideas of A. Gorsky (1871-1924), A. Vaganova (1879-1951), K. Sergeev (1910-1992), F. Lopukhov (1886-1973).

Plot

(original version)

In the castle park of the Sovereign Princess, friends are waiting for Prince Siegfried. The celebration of his coming of age begins. To the sounds of fanfare, the princess appears and reminds Siegfried that he will have to choose a bride at the ball tomorrow. Siegfried is saddened: he does not want to bind himself while his heart is free. At dusk, a flock of swans can be seen flying by. The prince and his friends decide to end the day with a hunt.

Swans swim on the lake. Hunters with Siegfried and Benno come ashore to the ruins of the chapel. They see swans, one of which has a golden crown on its head. The hunters shoot, but the swans swim away unscathed and turn into beautiful girls in a magical light. Siegfried, captivated by the beauty of the swan queen Odette, listens to her sad story about how the evil genius has bewitched them. Only at night they take on their real form, and with the sunrise they become birds again. Witchcraft will lose its power if a young man who has not yet sworn love to anyone falls in love with her, and remains faithful to her. At the first rays of dawn, the girls disappear into the ruins, and now swans are swimming on the lake, and a huge owl flies behind them - their evil genius.

Ball in the castle. The prince and princess greet the guests. Siegfried is full of thoughts about the swan queen, none of the girls present touches his heart. The trumpets sound twice, announcing the arrival of new guests. But now the trumpets sounded for the third time; it was the knight Rothbart who arrived with his daughter Odile, remarkably similar to Odette. The prince, convinced that Odile is the mysterious swan queen, joyfully rushes towards her. The princess, seeing the prince's infatuation with the beautiful guest, declares her the bride of Siegfried and joins their hands. In one of the windows of the ballroom, the swan-Odette appears. Seeing her, the prince understands a terrible deception, but the irreparable happened. The terrified prince runs to the lake.

Lake Shore. The swan girls are waiting for the queen. Odette runs in despair at the betrayal of the prince. She tries to throw herself into the waters of the lake, her friends try to console her. The prince appears. He swears that he saw Odette in Odile and that is the only reason he uttered the fatal words. He is ready to die with her. This is heard by an evil genius in the form of an owl. The death of a young man in the name of love for Odette will bring him death! Odette runs to the lake. The evil genius tries to turn her into a swan to prevent her from drowning, but Siegfried fights him, and then rushes after his beloved into the water. Owl falls dead.

Music

In Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky still remains within the framework of the genres and forms of ballet music that had developed by that time according to certain laws, although he fills them with new content. His music transforms ballet "from the inside": traditional waltzes become poetic poems of great artistic significance; adagios are the moment of the greatest concentration of feelings, they are saturated with beautiful melodies; the entire musical fabric of Swan Lake lives and develops symphonically, and does not become, as in most of its contemporary ballets, simply an accompaniment to one or another dance. In the center is the image of Odette, characterized by a quivering, agitated theme. The heartfelt lyrics associated with it extend to the entire work, permeating it with beautiful melodies. Characteristic dances, as well as pictorial episodes, occupy a relatively small place in ballet.

L. Mikheeva

In the photo: "Swan Lake" at the Mariinsky Theater

Swan Lake was composed by the young Tchaikovsky during one of his most active creative periods. Three symphonies and the now famous concerto for piano and orchestra (1875) were already created, a little later - the fourth symphony (1878) and the opera Eugene Onegin (1881). The appeal of a composer of this level to composing ballet music was not common for that time. In the imperial theaters for this type of creativity, there were full-time composers - Caesar Pugni, Ludwig Minkus, and later Riccardo Drigo. Tchaikovsky did not set himself the task of "revolution" in ballet. With his characteristic modesty, he scrupulously studied ballet scores, striving, without breaking with the established forms and traditions of ballet performances, from the inside to saturate their musical basis with high content.

Now it is generally recognized that it was Swan Lake that opened up unprecedented musical horizons for Russian ballet, subsequently developed by Tchaikovsky himself and his followers in this area. However, Boris Asafiev is also right: “Compared to the luxurious baroque of The Sleeping Beauty and the masterful symphonic action of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake is an album of sincere “songs without words”. It is more melodious and simple-minded than other ballets.” It is hardly possible to demand from the "first-born" the perfection of musical dramaturgy. To this day, the productions of Swan Lake have not found an ideal match between the composer's musical ideas and the stage action.

The music was composed from May 1875 to April 1876 by order of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. The ballet is based on a fairy-tale plot "from the time of chivalry". There are many opinions about his literary sources: they call Heine, the German storyteller Museus, Russian fairy tales about the swan girl and even Pushkin, but the story itself is completely independent. The idea probably belongs to the composer, but the authors of the libretto are Moscow theater inspector Vladimir Begichev and ballet dancer Vasily Geltser. The play premiered on February 20, 1877. His, alas, extremely unsuccessful choreographer was Vaclav Reisinger. Unfortunately, the failure of this production cast a shadow over the ballet itself for a long time. When, almost immediately after Tchaikovsky's death, in 1893, the question of staging Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theater arose, the most responsible fine-tuning to a full-fledged stage realization had to be done without the author.

The composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky (librettist of The Queen of Spades and Iolanta), director of the Imperial Theaters Ivan Vsevolozhsky and Marius Petipa took part in the modifications of the plot basis. On the instructions of the latter, the conductor Drigo, who was in awe of Tchaikovsky's music, made significant adjustments to the score of the ballet. So the first two acts became two scenes of the initial act. The duet of the Prince and the peasant woman from the first picture has now become the famous pas de deux of Odile and the Prince, replacing the sextet with the participation of the main characters at the ball. The scene of the storm, which, according to the composer's intention, completed the ballet, was removed from the final act. Moreover, Drigo orchestrated and inserted into the ballet three piano pieces by Tchaikovsky: "Naughty" became a variation of Odile in the pas de deux, "Sparkle" and "A Little Bit of Chopin" entered the third act.

It was on this modified score that the famous production of 1895 was created, which gave immortality to the ballet. Petipa, in addition to the general direction of the production, composed the choreography of the first picture and a number of dances at the ball. Lev Ivanov has the honor of composing swan paintings and some dances at the ball. The main part of Odette-Odile was danced by the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani, while the role of Siegfried was played by Pavel Gerdt. The famous artist was in his 51st year, and the choreographers had to compromise: in the lyrical white adagio, Odette danced not with the Prince, but with his friend Benno, and Siegfried only mimed nearby. In the pas de deux, the male variation was cropped.

The then balletomanes did not immediately appreciate the merits of the premiere. However, the audience, who had previously fallen in love with The Sleeping Beauty, The Queen of Spades and The Nutcracker, warmly accepted Tchaikovsky's new ballet, in which the sincere lyricism of the music was successfully combined with the heartfelt choreography of Lev Ivanov's swan scenes, and the festive pictures included such masterpieces by Marius Petipa as pas de trois and pas de deux. It was this production that gradually (and with inevitable changes) conquered the whole world.

In Russia, the first changes began after 6 years. The first "editor" was Alexander Gorsky - one of the performers of the role of Benno in St. Petersburg. The Jester appeared in the first picture, but Benno disappeared in the second. The Spanish dance composed by Gorsky at the ball is now performed everywhere. Ivanov-Petipa's Swan Lake was staged at the Mariinsky Theater with minor adjustments until 1933.

Matilda Kshesinskaya, Tamara Karsavina, Olga Spesivtseva shone in ballet in different years. In 1927, young Marina Semyonova amazed everyone with her proud Odette and demonically imperious Odile.

The idea of ​​a decisive rethinking of classical ballet belonged to Agrippina Vaganova and her co-authors: musicologist Boris Asafiev, director Sergei Radlov and artist Vladimir Dmitriev. Instead of a "fantastic ballet", a romantic novel appeared before the audience. The action was moved to the beginning of the 19th century, the Prince became a Count, fascinated by ancient legends, Rothbardt - his neighbor, the Duke, who wants to marry his daughter. The swan only appeared in the count's dreams in the form of a girl. The bird shot by the duke died in the hands of the Count, who, in anguish, stabbed himself with a dagger. In the updated Swan Lake, two heroines were danced not by one, as before, but by two ballerinas: Swan - Galina Ulanova, Odile - Olga Jordan. The curious retelling of the ballet lasted less than ten years, but what remained of it was the quivering choreographic scene "The Bird and the Hunter", which replaced Odette's incomprehensible story about her fate at the beginning of the second picture.

In 1937, at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, Asaf Messerep also updated Swan Lake. It was then that the tragic death of the heroes, so important for Tchaikovsky's plan, was replaced by a straightforward "happy ending". It seems that the date of this correction, which became mandatory for productions of the Soviet period, is not accidental. Since 1945, and in Leningrad, the Prince began to defeat the villain Rothbardt in hand-to-hand combat. Justice demands to be noted that the choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov owns not only this innovation. The whole picture of the ball was interpreted by him as an extended witchcraft - the dancers and guests appeared on the orders of Rothbardt.

For more than half a century, the stage and choreographic version of Swan Lake by Konstatin Sergeev (1950) has been preserved on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. And although there is little left of the choreography of 1895 (the second picture, supplemented by the dance of large swans, a mazurka, Hungarian, and also partly a pas de deux in the ball scene), she herself became a “classical” in more than half a century, thanks to tours Theatre, it was admired by audiences from all over the world. It accumulated the dance and artistic skills of dozens of excellent performers of the main roles: from Natalia Dudinskaya to Uliana Lopatkina, from Konstantin Sergeev to Farukh Ruzimatov.

Two productions that enriched the stage history of Swan Lake were staged in Moscow in the second half of the 20th century. The performances, almost diametrical in style and intent, had one thing in common - a declarative return to Tchaikovsky's original score (albeit not in full) and a corresponding rejection of the 1895 production: only Ivanov's second picture was preserved, and even then with Gorsky's amendments.

Vladimir Burmeister performed his version on the stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater (1953). For the introduction to the ballet, a scene was composed explaining to the audience how and why Rothbardt turned Odette and her friends into swans. In the second act, developing Lopukhov's idea, the choreographer interpreted the suite of characteristic dances as a series of Prince's temptations, each of which showed another face of the insidious Odile and her world. In the last act, the dance scene of the raging elements was impressive, consonant with the apogee of the characters' feelings. In the finale, love triumphed, and the swans, almost before the eyes of the viewer, transformed into girls.

"Swan Lake" by Yuri Grigorovich (Bolshoi Theater, 1969) is a philosophical poem about the eternal struggle between good and deceit and evil, and this struggle is waged primarily within a person. The main thing in this performance is the fate of the Prince, and not the fate of Odette. The evil genius appears as the black counterpart of the hero, both parts are choreographically enriched. Such a dualism of personality is akin to the musical themes of a ruthless fate that haunts a person in Tchaikovsky's symphonic compositions. In essence, Grigorovich's performance is not connected with the concept of the classical performance of 1895, although, as already mentioned, it uses the choreography of the second scene.

The innovative and talented decision of the "Swan Lake" caused considerable controversy. In each of the "national" dances of the second act, a participant in the dance of the brides is the soloist. Was it worth it for the sake of this technique to solve these dances by means of classical dance, and not traditionally, giving space to the characteristic dance? After all, the presence in the performance of a characteristic dance, shading the classical dance, is one of the hallmarks of the ballets of the Petipa era. Another controversial issue is the ending of the play. The problem of the hero's personal responsibility for his actions inevitably led to the inevitable death of the heroes. However, this mise-en-scene was categorically forbidden after the dress rehearsal by the then Minister of Culture of the USSR Ekaterina Furtseva personally. In post-Soviet times, the choreographer updated his production on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, building the finale in a new way: only Odette dies.

For the first time outside of Russia, the ballet was shown on October 30, 1911 in London by the Russian Seasons of Sergei Diaghilev troupe. According to his instructions, the ballet was reduced by Mikhail Fokin to two acts. The scene by the lake was the first act, the second took place in the palace. The scenery and costumes of Konstantin Korovin and Alexander Golovin, loaned to Diaghilev by the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, were used.

The performance of the famous Matilda Kshesinskaya in the main female part aroused the greatest interest among the audience. The poetic white adagio with Vaslav Nijinsky and the virtuosic brilliance of the ballerina's technique in fouette had a huge success. A little later, the famous Moscow dancer Mikhail Mordkin, as part of the tour of his troupe "All Stars of Russia", for the first time in the United States showed "Swan Lake" in Washington.

London's Vic Wells Ballet (1934) became the first foreign troupe to decide on the full realization of a Russian masterpiece. The production, which has become one of the standards for world ballet, was staged by Nikolai Sergeev. He tried, as meticulously as possible, to reproduce the performance of Petipa and Ivanov in 1895. The honor of "introducing" Swan Lake into French ballet belongs to another famous emigrant, Serge Lifar (1936, Grand Opera). Calling on the help of former Petersburg ballerinas, he supplemented the ballet with his own compositions. In 1960, this theater invited Burmeister to transfer his Moscow performance to the Paris stage.

Swan Lake is performed all over the world today. Most of the productions retain the choreography of Ivanov and Petipa in one form or another. However, there are original performances by John Neumeier, Matthew Born, Mats Ek, using only Tchaikovsky's score.

A. Degen, I. Stupnikov

Turning to fairy tales, Tchaikovsky invested in them a deep and significant life content. A simple and unpretentious German fairy tale about a swan girl, which is the basis of "Swan Lake" (The source of the libretto, according to Yu. O. Slonimsky, was the fairy tale of the German writer of the 18th century I. K. A. Museus "The Pond of Swans", which is part of the eight-volume collection "Folk Tales of the Germans". An extract from the Museumus collection was published in Russian translation under titled “Magic Tales.” Apparently, several persons involved in the Moscow theater took part in the preparation of the ballet script.), was turned by him into an exciting lyrical poem of true love, triumphant over evil and deceit. Created at a happy time in the composer's creative youth, shortly before Eugene Onegin, Francesca da Rimini and the Fourth Symphony, this ballet bears the imprint of that immediacy of lyrical inspiration that marks the best works of this period. The melodic richness and expressiveness of the music of Swan Lake, combined with the breadth and intensity of the symphonic development, smooth out the shortcomings of the scenario plan, captivating the viewer and listener with the irresistible power of its poetic charm.

The ballet shows two worlds - real and fantastic, between which, however, there is no insurmountable line. The swan queen Odette, bewitched by an evil wizard, languishes in captivity and longs for human warmth and love, but only at night is she allowed to take on her real appearance as a young beauty. Seeing her once, Prince Siegfried falls in love with her, but involuntarily violates the oath of allegiance, and Odette must die, and Siegfried throws himself into the abyss of raging waters to die with her.

Such is the simple and rather banal fairy tale plot, on the basis of which Tchaikovsky managed to create a work with a detailed, intensely developing action, integral and complete in its dramatic composition. The tender elegiac theme of Odette's languor runs through the entire score, mostly retaining its timbre (oboe with its soft warm sound) and tonal (B minor) coloring.

She first appears at the end of the first act, a picture of a merry feast, dancing and fun in the park near the castle of Siegfried, celebrating his coming of age with friends. The theme of Odette, flying with her friends past a company of fun, brings with it the breath of a different, attracting poetic world.

The second act by the lake, where Siegfried comes, following the flock of swans, is imbued with deep quivering lyricism, contrasting with the brilliance and splendor of the previous one. Odette's excited account of her fate, followed by her dance duet (Pas d'action) with Siegfried (In the Adagio of this dance number, Tchaikovsky used material from a love duet from his destroyed opera Ondine. The solo violin and cello convey the sound of a female and male voice.) are surrounded by a series of graceful corps de ballet dances that provide a beautifully poetic background for these dramatic central episodes. The whole action is framed by two passages of the theme of Odette, which here is more widely developed and reaches a pathetic sound in the orchestral tutti, foreshadowing the tragic outcome of the love of two young creatures.

In the third act, the viewer sees a picture of a magnificent ball in the castle of the princess, Siegfried's mother, who arranges a review of brides for her son. But an ominous shadow seemed to hang over this brilliant triumph. It is here that the evil wizard Rothbart carries out an insidious plan, coming with his daughter, like two drops similar to the queen of swans who captivated the heart of the young prince. Something poisoned, some kind of magical dope is felt in the music of this action, starting from the scene of the guests' exit, built on the alternation of trumpet fanfare announcing the arrival of noble people, with fragments of a waltz. Rothbart and Odile are the last to arrive, and the scene ends with a large common waltz. But unlike the smooth lyrical waltzes of the two previous acts, this dynamic, energetically rhythmic waltz is imbued with a burning passion of expression. It is followed by a cycle of group dances (Pas de six), which N. V. Tumanina characterizes as a “seduction scene”. In separate parts of this cycle one can hear either sensual languor (the second variation with its oriental coloring), or something imperative and menacing (the menacing "knocking" rhythms of the fourth variation). The cycle ends with a swift "Bacchic" coda with sharp syncopated rhythms. Another cycle of national dances leads to the final scene, where Siegfried, unaware of deceit, dances the same waltz with Odile and Rothbart, triumphant, passes his daughter's hand to him, but at that moment a swan with a crown appears in the window and Odette's dramatic-sounding theme conveys her horror and despair.

The last, fourth act takes us back to the shore of the lake. The melancholy melody of the dance of little swans, yearning for Odette, is heard, then she herself rushes in, talking about her misfortune in a dramatic, excited dance. The appearance of Siegfried and his death, together with Odette, constitute the content of the final scene of the ballet, which ends with the solemn pathetic sounding of Odette's theme in rhythmic increase and a powerful orchestral tutti as an apotheosis of true and enduring love.

The deep psychological content, the richness of colors and the symphonic scope of Tchaikovsky's music proved too much for the ballet theater of the 1970s. The production of Swan Lake at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater in 1877 was gray, colorless and in no way corresponded to the novelty and artistic significance of the score. “In terms of music, Swan Lake is the best ballet I have ever heard ... In terms of dancing, Swan Lake is perhaps the most official, boring and poor ballet that is given in Russia,” Laroche wrote after the premiere . Only a few of his contemporaries were able to appreciate the significance of what was done by Tchaikovsky, while the majority of his innovations remained not understood. Having stayed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater for six seasons, Swan Lake was forgotten and was not renewed during the composer's lifetime.