Background and plot of swan Lake ballet

Sat Mar 26 10:03:11 CST 2022

Tchaikovsky once confessed that he was motivated to write Swan Lake by financial need and a long-standing desire to write ballet music, which is why we were invited to listen to the most popular ballet of all time. This album by Dutwall conducted the Montreal Symphony Orchestra recording, high transparency, dynamic, will be swan Lake dazzling gorgeous color performance incisively and vividly. The tone is luxuriant, the sound is clear, the bass is rich in elasticity, the middle voice is smooth, the treble is fine.

In 1871, at the age of 31, Tchaikovsky came to stay with his sister. As a good uncle, he decided to give the cute nephew a special gift - according to the children to read German composer mo mining uz fairy tale "the swan pool" (how to defeat the devil is about a young knight, rescued by magic girl into a swan, finally married his story) and creative DuMu ballet music. In 1875, The composer's friend And the Bolshoi's artistic director, V Bygichev, invited Tchaikovsky to compose music for swan Lake, a large dance play, promising to pay him 800 roubles if he did. For Tchaikovsky, who teaches at the Moscow Conservatory on a salary of just 1,500 roubles a year, which is undoubtedly a huge number. Besides, of course, the desire to make some bold attempts in the field of ballet was also the main motivation for him to accept the commission.Background and plot of swan Lake ballet.


Before committing himself to writing Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky studied the contemporary musical scores of the ballet (such as the works of Drib) with great care, and often attended the performances of the ballet at the theatre and observed the characteristics of the performers . A year later, in March 1876, the composer completed the piano score for the four-act dance, and the orchestration was completed on April 20.After the work was handed over, Tchaikovsky longed for the Bolshoi to treat his ballet score with the same respect as an orchestra would treat his symphonies. But The German assigned to write and direct Swan Lake, Zhu Rezinger, is a rather mediocre character. To him, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake seemed so "symphonic" that he did not know how to dance to it. To the taste of the heroine kabakova (for whom swan Lake was first performed as a special performance in her honor), they casually replaced Tchaikovsky's original with previously performed music that everyone was familiar with, in order to please some people.

The first performance of Swan Lake, on February 20, 1877, was a great disappointment to all, but especially to the composer. The critic Laroche saw the play and said, "I have never seen a worse performance on the stage of a large theatre...The costumes, scenery and effects could not disguise the emptiness of the stage. No ballet fan can enjoy it for even five minutes." The composer was dejected, but he humbly attributed the failure to his own bad music, and said that he planned to rewrite the music of Swan Lake, but this work was not carried out until the composer died suddenly in November 1893.

On January 15, 1895, two masters of composing and directing, Pietypa and Ivanov, rewrote and directed Swan Lake. Because they fully understood and used Tchaikovsky's outstanding musical language, the performance was a great success. PI Lenani, the famous Italian ballet star, played the dual roles of Aujetta and Augiria. She embodies the choreographer's intentions with her delicate feeling, light dancing movements, tough endurance and complete technique. In the alternations of augira's solos recorded in the third act lenaney did, in one breath, thirty-two Fawettes (meaning to whirl the whip, with one leg always swinging like a whip, and the body revolving regularly on the support of the other), a feat which is still performed in Swan Lake. Since then, Swan Lake has never left the world ballet stage and has become a masterpiece loved by everyone.

Tchaikovsky was particularly fond of Ukrainian spring and autumn, and he was as much a nature lover as Beethoven and Brahms. Russia's flourishing and beautiful nature gave him a passion in which he was always careful to capture some material to complement his work. Between June and July of 1872, Tchaikovsky arrived in Ukraine at the age of 32 and stayed with Kaminka's sister. The children of his sisters were dear to him, for he had no children and was naturally fond of them, and the nieces regarded him as their dearest uncle. He was always playing with his children in his spare time, and the warm atmosphere of home soothed his lonely heart. At one point, he wrote a little ballet music for the children called " Swan Lake," which was based on a Medieval German fairy tale, but it turned out to be a prototype of the later famous song "Swan Lake."

Three years later, in May 1875, at the age of 35, Tchaikovsky was commissioned by the Management of the Moscow Royal Theatre to write ballet music. Although this is only a conjecture, perhaps he was not asked to write Swan Lake at that time, but merely inquired, "What do you think, do you have music for the ballet?..." "So Tchaikovsky took out his study swan Lake, which he had written three years before." Here is a ballet full of fantasy, is that all right?" Of course, this is just my imagination. Later, the contract was officially signed. Tchaikovsky accepted a contract for 800 roubles to compose the piece. On September 10, 1875, he wrote to the Russian composer Rimsky Kosakov, clearly expressing his feelings at the time: "Although one of the reasons I accepted the Contract for Swan Lake was to make money; But I've wanted to try my hand at this for a long time. It was his first time to write ballet music, and he made meticulous preparations, borrowing scores from the theatre library and studying them carefully. He particularly perused Adam's Giselle. "Gisele" is the first romantic ballet in the second year of the birth of Tchaikovsky's best masterpiece, it only as ballet music to the former ballet accompaniment to the artistic height, this is "Gisele" historical merit. What particularly interested Tchaikovsky was the skilful use of the theme in the music of Gisele for dramatic effect. In the process of studying the score of Gisele, Tchaikovsky came up with the ambition to go beyond his predecessors. In August of that year, Tchaikovsky began composing. He took a break halfway and finished writing on April 10 of the following year. Swan Lake was first performed at the Moscow Royal Theatre on February 20, 1877. But the premiere of the ballet now so popular around the world was an incredibly muddle-headed flop, and it was. So the choreography and setting were terrible, especially the poor dancing of the leading ballerinas, which led to the failure of the opening performance.


The gist of the ballet Swan Lake is as follows:

The first act

The curtain was lifted in the graceful preface, and on the stage was a beautiful garden shaded by green trees, with a magnificent castle in the background. Prince Siegfried turns 20 years old. There will be a big celebration tomorrow, and today there will be a lively party in the castle's forecourt. Dishes and wine piled up on the table. The Prince danced joyfully, surrounded by his tutor Wolfgang and his friend Binno, and the young men and girls of the village. Then the queen mother appeared and said to the prince, "You must not play so much all day long. Tomorrow at your coming-of-age celebration, invite princesses from all countries, and choose your future king." The prince reluctantly consented, and the queen retired with satisfaction. The prince realized that he would soon leave his free youth, and suddenly his heart sank and his smile disappeared. Binno found out that the prince did not pay taxes, and in order to change his mood, he immediately brought wine and began to make merry. The villagers waltz and the stage gradually brightens. Soon the feast was over, the sun was sinking, and the prince was lost in thought. Binno and so on four or five young people to invite the prince to hunt, the prince again smiled, and they went to hunt together.


The second act

The lake was beautiful in its moonlight, and lovely swans were gliding along the surface of the lake. They became young girls one by one after landing on shore. In fact, they were transformed into swans by magic from the devil Rotbald. They were swans by day, and took their human forms only at night on the lake. Then Prince Siegfried entered with a bow and arrow, and when he aimed at a swan in a crown, the swan became a beautiful maiden before the prince's eyes. She claimed to be the swan queen Ojeta, was a princess of a king, was the devil Rotbald magic into a swan, only at night to restore the human form. Moreover, the swans who had flown to this lake were girls who had suffered the same fate as she. The prince was shocked. The prince listened to The Tale of The tower's misfortune, passing from deep sympathy to admiration. Meanwhile, Ojeta tells the prince that pure love is necessary for the magic to be broken. The prince vowed to announce his engagement to Ojeta at tomorrow's coming-of-age ceremony. The devil Rotbald peeps in the dark, with a ferocious smile. In a moment, The Oriental white farewell to the prince of The Tower and the girls, and the devil Rotbald turned into swans.


The third act

The long-awaited prince's coming-of-age celebration. Invited nobles and court officials gathered in the hall of the castle. The prince and the queen mother take their places. Then the beautiful princess from six countries is invited. But there was only Ojeta in the prince's mind. But the demon Rottbald shows up with the black swan Odette, changes Odette into Odette's shape, and tricks the prince, who is tricked into thinking she is Odette. The ball began with colorful dances of different countries. The prince danced with the fake Ojeta and announced his engagement. Ojeta the white swan, who had been watching out of the window, uttered a mournful cry and fluttered away. Then thunder and lightning, the wind struck, and the devil Rotbald and the black Swan laughed and went away. The prince began to know in the scheming, with a sword after.


The fourth act

Ojeta and the white swan girls lost the chance to return to the world forever because of the prince's blunder, and were filled with sorrow. At that moment, the prince, sword in hand, came running, knelt before Ojeta to plead for his folly, and once again expressed his love for Ojeta, and they hugged each other tightly, with blood and tears in their eyes. The devil Rotbald appeared, the prince drew his sword to meet, after a vicious fight, finally killed the devil. The prince and Aujeta throw themselves into the lake in sorrow that they will not be together forever in this life. Then strange appears and their great love breaks the magic and the white swans return to being beautiful young girls.